Thunderstorm
by NorseGirl23
Summary: It's been almost twenty-five years since Clark showed himself to the world as Superman, and during that time he and Lois raised a son who was more like his father than they could have imagined. Now, Clark and his son, Jonathon, are in New Mexico where strange events start to unfold around them showing a war that spans different planets, and a young woman is in the middle of it all
1. Thunderstorm 1

A/N: Please read and review! This is if the events of the _Avengers_ and _Thor: The Dark World_ never happened.

* * *

He came into the waiting room, pride clearly shown on his face as he announced the birth of his healthy son. His mother hugged him, and his friends all gave their congratulations before following him into his wife's hospital room. She was holding the little boy and gave them all a tied smile as they each saw the baby. The kid was more like his father than any would have realized, but right then, he looked like a small and innocent little thing who had no idea of the greatness that would come from him. The friends all made jokes about half the things his wife yelled at him during her labor. Most of which he just ignored.

"What's his name?" His mother asked.

"Jonathon," his wife answered. "Of course."

* * *

It took a long time for their little town in New Mexico to be rebuilt. There were many people who never came back and for good reason. What happened to their little town could make anyone a little skittish. A young woman with wavy mousy brown hair carefully picked her way across the holy road. She rested a hand on her lower back as she looked around her. Occasionally, her eyes would move to the sky overhead, and she would always have a pang of despair.

"I wish I knew why you couldn't come back," she said to herself.

"Jane," another woman's voice said behind her. "You know you shouldn't be walking around in all this."

The woman, Jane, rested her hands on her swelling stomach. She gave her friend and lab assistant a dirty look.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," she said. "Uneven ground. Your center of gravity being off."

Jane walked back to her friend, and they went back to their RV. She would go over her calculations and check the stars for almost hours on end, but she would never get past what she had a few months ago. There were no more strange rainbow colored lights in the night sky.

"You're going to work yourself to death, Jane," her friend said, grabbing her battered notebook from her hands. "You need to sleep. The stars will be here in a few months."

"I will find a way," she said. "I'm so close."

"He had to have a reason to not come back. He's probably off saving all kinds of worlds."

"Darcy," Jane sighed, trying not to cry. "Maybe. Maybe."

The second time that day, Jane rested her hands on her swelling stomach, and she at least had a piece of him.

A few months later, she had a baby girl, born in the middle of a thunderstorm. Jane thought that was his blessing over the birth of their daughter and with the help of her father's friend and teacher, she picked the name Touron or loved by Thor. Even then, she looked so much like her father.

* * *

Jonathon was about five years old when his super strength kicked in. He may have broken a door when he was running around their home. He stared at the broken door when his mother found him.

"Clark!" She called to his father. "I think there's something you need to tell Jonathon."

His father spent the time to explain, as well as he could, to Jonathon the history of their family. It might have been a bit too much for the five year old, so his father chuckled.

"I'm Superman," he told him quietly.

He flew with his father that night, and that was difficult to not believe. Jonathon realized that he had the coolest of families. His father was actually friends with Batman! And the woman who would occasionally come over to talk with his mother and father, was Wonder Woman, and his Aunt Chloe knew Green Arrow!

The story of how his father became Superman was one he always asked to listen to when he found out. He could not understand the significance of why his grandparents had to send him away, but he knew that his own parents loved him very much, and if they did that, he knew that something bad had to have happened. Jonathon particularly loved the last part when his father flew up to a planet and moved it away from Earth. It was the journey of him becoming that hero the world needed that always interested him. Not the later ones where he saved the world countless times from aliens with a group of completely different people. He liked the story of someone ordinary becoming great by his own actions.

* * *

It was the loud thunder that brought her to her mother's room, and she sat on her lap and immediately burrowed her head in her neck.

"The thunder isn't something to be afraid of, Tara," her mother said, using the nickname that everyone took to calling her the moment she could talk. "We're the safest right now." She hugged the little girl to her. "Did I ever tell you the story of the man who could control the lightning?" Tara shook her head. "I have to fix that, don't I?"

"There was once a prince in a far, far away land that knew only peace and prosperity during his childhood. He was given a hammer that only he could lift, and that gave him the power over lightning and thunder. With that, he became a great warrior and protector for his father, and with each victory, his pride grew. On the day that his father had declared him his heir, their palace was attacked by their old enemies, and the prince grew angered at such an act. He wanted to attack that enemy, but it would have brought war onto their people. His father ordered them not to attack.

"The prince gathered his four closest friends and the brother he knew he could trust, and they attacked the enemy. The six of them were so outmatched, and they would have died if the king had not appeared to save their lives. The fact that his son went against his wishes and almost brought war onto them, his father sent him to Earth, taking away his titles and his power. He did have a heart and hope, and he sent his son's hammer after him, knowing that if his son proved himself worthy, he would be able to lift it and come back.

"It was there where the prince met a woman who studied the stars. She promised to help him find his hammer, and he promised to help her understand what he knew about the stars. When he came to the hammer, he found that he could not lift it, and that was when his brother appeared bringing him terrible news. Their father had died, and he could not return unless they would go to war. They gave each other a final good bye, and the former prince was forced to grow used to the strange new world around him.

"He taught the woman what he knew of the stars, and he realized that the world would not be that bad for him." Her mother looked out the window just when lightning flashed across the night sky, and she looked so sad when she said that part.

"One morning his four closest friends came to find him, and that was when he learned that his brother was a traitor. His friends did not come alone. When his friends left for Earth, his brother sent a weapon after them to kill his brother and anyone else who wished to stand in his way. The prince and his four friends got the townspeople out of the town as the weapon made its way to them.

"His friends fought against the weapon, but it proved to be too much even for some of the greatest warriors. The prince had his friends retreat, and he faced the weapon himself. He knew that his brother would be watching him, and he apologized and demanded that if anyone would have died that day then it should be him. The weapon struck him, and he laid dying in the woman's arms, knowing that she was safe." Her mother's voice cracked a little when she said that last part.

"Something happened. The sky darkened, and it began to thunder and lightning as the hammer flew to the prince's hands. He faced the weapon as the prince he was once and easily destroyed it. He and his friends would deal with his brother once they returned home, but before he left, he promised the woman that he would return to her. He could not come back."

Tara opened her eyes when her mother finished the story. "That's not a very happy ending."

"No," her mother's voice cracked once more. "No, it's not."

"Did I make you sad?" Tara asked, hugging her mother. "I'm sorry, Mommy."

"No, honey," her mother said. "You make me happier than you could ever imagine."

* * *

His father drove into the small town in the desert, and even after almost twenty-two years, the place looked like it had been through a lot. From what he heard of what happened to that town twenty or so years ago, it was no wonder that it would take a while for it to be as it once was if that. It was just the two of them as his mother was busy with a story on the other end of the country. The two of them went to that small town in New Mexico for his father to write about a researcher were very few people on the streets that morning, and the few that were seen eyed them warily. Whatever had leveled most of the town, it made the survivors suspicious of any outsider.

On the roof of a building close to the repaired motel was a blonde woman writing something in a notebook.

"Can you tell me where Dr. Foster is?" His father asked her.

She was startled, but she managed to stop herself from slipping from top of the building.

"She's out of town, right now," she answered. "Um. . .looking for a quieter place for her research last night. She should be back later."

She went back to whatever she was working on, a dismissal if there ever was one. Jonathon knew he would have to get to know her better during his stay in New Mexico.


	2. Thunderstorm 2

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Tara climbed down from her spot on her mother's house in town, keeping her old book on Norse mythology close to her chest. The young man from earlier walked over to her, hands in his pockets.

"I'm Jonathon Kent by the way," he said, still walking beside her.

"Good for you," she said, not even looking at him.

She saw her mother and Darcy drive the old beaten up RV into town. Darcy hung her head out the window and waved at her.

"Hey, Tara," she yelled. "We're gonna talk to the reporter. Keep the kid company."

"What do you do around here?" He asked her.

She rolled her eyes. "Stuff."

She kept walking, and he kept following her. Jonathon spent the time talking at her, and she would barely respond.

"You know what," she stopped short, and he almost walked into her. "I don't trust outsiders. No one here does."

"I won't destroy the whole town," he replied.

"You're a farm kid," she told him. "What will you do? Throw cows at us?"

He almost flinched, but she disregarded it. There was no reason why her comment would bother him as far as she knew. "There aren't any cows."

Tara scowled at him. "Amazing."

Rainbow colors lit up the sky, and the ground around them began to freeze as the temperature began to drop rather suddenly. Two tall people moved into the town, ground freezing with each of their steps. Strangely, their skin was blue.

"What are those things?" Jonathon asked.

Tara stared at them in shock. "Those are Frost Giants, but. . .but. . .they don't. . ."

"My mom wrote about an Amazon and a couple aliens who save the world," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to steer her from the Giants' path. "I'm sure those two are the most believable thing out there."

"You know," Tara said, trying to shrug his arm off of her but not succeeding. "Some of us live normal lives."

"I am normal."

"Your mom deals with superheroes almost on a daily basis. How in what way is that normal?"

He backed her away, but the ice stopped them from moving. One of the Giants created a knife out of ice.

"The blood of Odin flows strongly here," he rasped at the two of them. "To spill it would end their hold on Midgard."

* * *

A being in golden armor who could see and hear around the whole world would occasionally turn his eyes to the mortal woman who had helped the prince during his exile. What he saw at that moment bothered even him. When the Bifrost was destroyed, Asgard's connection to the other realms was lost, and there were beings within them who used that to their advantage. He saw the town where the royal blood was hidden be attacked by Frost Giants.

"Heimdall?" The prince, Thor, called. "What is the matter?"

"Frost Giants have invaded her home," he answered. "There is little we can do."

"Perhaps not," Odin said. "Send your hammer, and the one who is worthy will stop the Frost Giants and the oncoming war."

And so, the hammer was sent to Midgard, along with the hopes that a worthy person would touch the hammer.

In the shadows, a woman in green watched the exchange, but she was the one who knew more than her king and his son. Though she would go against the two of them and help the traitorous Loki, her world was also in the balance. Her eyes glowed green as her power flowed through her.

"Someone worthy, yes," she said. "But by the grace of Amora, the hammer shall only be used by Thor's own blood and give us our just revenge."

* * *

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Jane asked the reporter. "I take it this isn't really about an article, is it?"

"There has been unexplainable energy signals around the world," Clark agreed. "Emil felt that they matched some of your research."

"I've noticed them too, but. . ." Jane broke off, thinking. "I've been trying to make a portal, so some of them could have come from me."

"Those we know about," Clark replied. "It's the others that bother us."

Jane's equipment picked up an energy signal from out of town, and she stared at it in wonder and maybe even a little hope.

"Those are far too tall," Darcy commented. "And cold."

"And they're headed straight into town," Clark said.

"Tara. . .we have to go back," Jane started the RV.

Another energy signal was read, and it was not too far away. It was the impact that had the rock and dust be thrown around them. The glass from the RV's windows shattered from the flying debris. Clark stood between Jane and Darcy and the flying glass.

"What was that?" Darcy asked. "Where's my taser?"

"It's a large crater," Clark said. "A hammer. . .?"

* * *

When the son of Odin destroyed the Bifrost, it could be felt through the Nine Realms. It was a sign that the hand of Odin and of Asgard would not be able to reach them when they were attacked. Races of beings planned their different attacks for a war that would bring down even Odin himself. It would be a war to end all wars. As before, Midgard would be the battleground, and her greatest champion, Thor, could not appear to be her guardian.

A ancient and dark being awoke from his cell when his followers began to move. He inwardly smirked to himself. Everything that was taken from him would soon be his once more. All that his oldest of enemies had held dear would be gone, and the chaos and darkness from before time would return.

* * *

Jonathon watched the two blue skin giants surround the two of them, and they could not escape. He clenched his fists and began to concentrate hard on the ice that trapped them. It melted away as the red lasers shot from his eyes. He picked her up and sped them away to someplace safe.

"What the. . .what did you do?" Tara demanded, stepping away from him.

"I just saved your life."

"Mine?" She asked. The sky turned dark, and it began to thunder and lightning while the rain began pour.

"They were paying more attention to you."

"They only showed up because you were here!"

An object fell from the sky, sending rock and dirt in all directions. A flash of lightning lit up that devastated area as if pointing to all the world where that object had fallen.


	3. Thunderstorm 3

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Jane ran down the side of the crater and tried to control herself when she saw the familiar hammer. She began to look around her for its owner, but she saw nothing just devastation and destruction.

"Hey!" Darcy yelled, rolling after her. "It's Mew-Mew!"

The hammer was stuck in a pillar of rock, and no one could lift it, though it shifted a little when Clark touched it. The inscription on the hammer flashed green in the waning light.

"What really happened here?" Clark demanded when Darcy's reaction registered to him.

"It's a long story," Jane answered, vaguely.

"It definitely wasn't a storm that caused a fuel tank explosion," Darcy remarked. Jane gave her a look. "What? Oh c'mon!"

Clark snapped his head in the direction of the town, looking worried. "Ice is covering the town."

* * *

Jonathon watched as the town was slowly covered with ice, and he could hear the distant sreams. During all that, Tara was freaking out, trying to run back, but he would hold her back each time she moved.

"If you can do weird stuff," Tara demanded. "Go help them!"

Tara pulled his hands off her arm and ran back to the town, far stronger and faster than she should have been.

* * *

A man who betrayed his family's values and ideals to glorify himself sat in his cell. It was his home since his most latest of treason attempts. Though he was adopted, he could feel everything that happened within the Nine Realms. Something big was going to happen, and all the Realms would be ripped apart.

"Now you're wishing you haven't broken the Bifrost, haven't you. . .brother?" He asked his visitor without even looking at him.

"What's done is done," Thor said. "Heimdall said you know pathways between the realms that even he does not know about."

"And you're asking me for help?" He smirked. "You must truly be desperate." The two of them felt a burst of raw power that burst across Midgard. "It seems that an Asgardian is already on your precious Earth. You can let me wallow in my guilt."

"That's not possible," Thor replied. "The Bridge has yet to be repaired."

"We know what power an Asgardian has," Loki said, still smirking. "Maybe a small reminder of your exile on Midgard?"

* * *

Tara ran faster than she ever ran before and tackled one of the Frost Giants. Jonathon had dealt with the other one. When she opened the frozen metal casket, the ice melted away, and the arctic wind and temperature flew back into it. One of the Frost Giants waved his icy hand, and both of them disappeared with the strange metal casket.

She stared at what just happened in complete surprise. It was her mother's work fully realized, and if she was with them, her goal would have been realized.

"You okay?" Jonathon asked her, turning him to face her, and he looked like he was genuinely concerned.

She shrugged him away. "Couldn't be better."

He acted like he was a good person, she thought. There was nothing sincere. Nothing. No one could be that good. Jonathon's human. Maybe that was why she was so short with him. It would come across as arrogance not actual concern for the well being of others.

The sky above them had strange dark mark symbols across it. The blue sky became murky and the sun's light began to weaken. Trucks and cars around town began to float.

* * *

She roamed Earth for thousands of years. It was more her domain than anywhere else. She could feel disturbances from all over the world. Disturbances she had not felt since long before the creation of that realm, and they were caused by a being she long thought to be imprisoned.

There was another feeling, faint, but there nonetheless. There were small bursts of power that have not been felt for over twenty years when the bridge that connected the different realms was destroyed.

The woman went around to the source of the surge, and she found the blood of her blood. There was no denying it. The blood of her blood had no idea what was happening, and with the weapon of her father's close by, she needed to understand and quickly.

She went back to her oldest of methods, influencing visions. One object in particular interested her, and she touched it with her mind. It was a golden helmet. Simple yet so very powerful.

There was a blonde woman working near the old helmet, and she stopped her work when the helmet began to whisper to her. She went to it and picked it up. The helmet began to glow in a gold light, and it attached itself to her.

"There's a lot that you need to know," the woman, known as Gaia, said to her new voice. "And very little time. Malekith the Accursed has awakened, and Earth is very much in danger with very little to help them."

* * *

Strange beings with pale skin and sharp, sharp teeth, and each carried strange weapons that almost had darkness coming from them came from the strange anomalies. They seemed to have melted out of the strange dark symbols that covered the sky and blocked out the sun.

The heroes that Earth have grown so used to and started to look up to worked to stop the strange beings' movements, and they were initially successful. It became pretty obvious that they were outnumbered and outgunned.

These strange creatures were seen all over the world, appearing in the same way, and they were not alone. Blue skinned giants took advantage of the chaos, freezing people and terrorizing the survivors.

There came a point when the strange beings grew fearful when strange thunderstorms began to erupt across the globe. These storms would flare up for no rhyme or reason, just appearing out of nowhere. It was the rain that would melt away the ice and sent the blue giants away, and it was the lightning that tore apart the dark symbols in the sky.

* * *

A woman in green watched the mortal woman walk over to the hammer, and for a moment, she felt disgust tinged with jealousy. How would such a worm catch the eye of a god? She shook her head. There had to be more to her than could be seen. The woman was the one who redeemed the God of Thunder. She was letting her own feelings crowd her understanding.

It was only Amora who saw the Worthy enchantment glow green the moment the man touched the hammer. Only Thors child may touch the hammer, now. Even though an Asgardian would have difficulty entering Midgard, there was still a way for the middle realm to be protected.

Lightning flashed. . .


	4. Thunderstorm 4

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Chloe?" Oliver called through the place they called Watchtower. "Chloe?"

He found her wearing the golden helmet of Dr. Fate, and its eyes flashed green as she made her proclamation: "Spill the blood of a human on the World Tree, and all will be lost. Spill the blood of an Asgardian, and all will be saved. All that is happening now is the cause of Asgard's break from the other Nine Realms, and now the Accursed has sent his power all across the Middle Realm to make all of creation his own. Guard well the woman who can lead you to the World Tree."

The eyes dimmed, and she reached to take the helmet off. She rubbed a hand across her tired eyes, and for a moment, she seemed worried.

"What's wrong?" Oliver asked her, moving closer to her.

"I thought I saw. . .it has to be Jonathon," she said. "I'm not really sure, though." She went to call the others of their strange team. "We need everyone in on this. Maybe the new Hawkman can shed on what's happening. He might have seen it all once or twice before."

* * *

It did not take long for the bravest of the locals to try to pick up that strange hammer. As that strange time before, no one could lift the thing, but there was word going around that spoke of the great man who could. A man who called the hammer to his hands and destroyed a robot that shot fire at the local town, nearly leveling the whole place. Some people would point to the strange and different architecture of the town as the perfect proof of what happened. It was always brushed off as the local urban legends.

It was uncharacteristically raining nonstop around that hammer. Anyone who struck at the hammer, thunder would boom and lightning strike which would make them leave in a hurry.

Deep in the crowd a short, young man walked over to the hammer and took several discrete pictures of the hammer, making sure to show the strange symbols on the hammer itself. His mentor asked him to find a little bit more information on the strange object to see how in the world it fit into the strange events across the globe. The energy surrounding the object during its entrance was very similar to the strange energy disturbances around the world.

He looked up at the thunderstorm that raged across the New Mexico sky, and he looked back at the hammer. His modified phone showed that energy tendrils were coming from it.

"That can't be possible," he said to himself. "The storm's coming from this thing."

* * *

"Tara!" Her mother yelled when she saw the two of them . She ran to Tara and pulled her into a tight hug, more to make sure she was still alive.

"Mom," she said. "I saw the thing fall from the sky."

"We were far enough away," Clark said.

"That's only because there was no one there," Darcy said. "If there was, she would have been right there to hit him."

Her mother stiffened when Darcy said those words, and the look Jonathon gave Tara spoke volumes. Her mother and Darcy knew a little bit too much about what was happening around the world, and she was deliberately not speaking about it.

Clark's phone went off, and he respectfully left them to answer it. Tara could still see him, and he looked even more worried as the call went on. It was the way Jonathon reacted that further proved that his son was. . .different. For some reason, Tara felt that he could understand what his father was even saying. He came back, giving vague excuses, and he made sure that Jonathon stayed with the three of them.

* * *

The young man had given the pictures to his teacher, and the two of them studied them closely. It was the runes that were of interest to his teacher.

"Those match the old Nordic runes," he said, translating the inscription. "Whosoever holds this hammer, though he be worthy, shall have the power of Thor." He moved on to the next image and narrowed his eyes as he studied it. "You may be right. The hammer was causing that storm."

"That means that. . ." The young man said in a voice that would be filled with wonder whenever he encountered something like that. "Thor is real."

His teacher began to look through old videos of what happened in that very same New Mexico town almost twenty years ago. Within the strange tornado that was formed, the two of them could see a man using that hammer. It was the young woman, the scientist who worked with them on occasion, that they recognized. Months later she gave birth to a baby girl.

"What happened there?" He asked, more to himself.

They got a message from Watchtower that brushed the strange hammer aside, at least for a little while. It was the strange words of the Dr. Fate that was the most interesting part. The vague hints at the future were not worded right. He felt that someone was tampering with the Helmet.

"Batman," Green Arrow said. "What did Dr. Fate mean about 'finding the woman who would lead us to the World Tree'?"

He watched the old videos again, and he knew that Jane Foster was somehow involved in this mess.

* * *

Loki led his brother and his brothers four allies to one of the most secret paths to the different realms that only he knew about. His vague proclamation to the oaf he called brother for many centuries had caused Thor to be silent and almost guilty, and it was mixed with something else, a family sort of thing that Loki thought he had when he was a child. Loki had to keep his jealous rage in check.

He looked up at the decaying world tree. With everything that had been happening around the Nine Realms, the strife caused by an ancient awareness who was shut away by Odin's grandfather long before humanity began to walk on Midgard. The World Tree could feel the chaos and destruction from across the other Realms, and as it was the source of the All-Father's power, Odin was weakening.

"You sent your hammer to her, didn't you?" Loki asked, pretending to sound concerned. "She'll be safe. Both of them."

Thor chose not to listen to anything his brother told him. During the years, he would mock his brother by bringing up his action of destroying the only way for him to see his mortal love. Loki would drop the different tidbits that he knew secret pathways to the different realms, but when he would be pressed for details, he would act like he knew nothing. Odin's displeasure of the match may have helped, as well. Loki would constantly refer to that in his talks with Thor, hoping to send that bitterness to the front once more.

The farther they went from his cell, the stronger he became, and he could almost feel it flowing through his veins once more. An army of Dark Elves attacked them, and he had to force himself ignore his plan of vengeance. Something far, far worse was happening around all the Realms, and the end of everything could happen.


	5. Thunderstorm 5

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"I know vaguely of what is happening," Diana, Wonder Woman, said. "We have heard the old stories from a group of people we often clashed with, the Valkyries." She explained what she knew about the strange creatures seen around the world, and when she came to the pictures of of the strange designs in the sky. "The World Tree you mentioned, Oliver, connects the earth to other worlds, as they told us. I never believed it, but. . .those look like dying tree branches. . ."

When she said those words, the people assembled together began to notice that the strange designs did, in fact, look like tree branches, and they looked like they were slowly withering away.

"Dr. Jane Foster has been working on finding a way of using a wormhole to travel across space," Bruce, Batman, said. "Much of her research was used for the zeta beam technology."

The old videos that clearly showed what really happened in that New Mexico town over twenty years ago. Each League member stared at what was happening in shock.

"She reacted rather strongly whenever that day was mentioned," Clark remarked. "She even recognized that hammer that fell out of the sky."

"From what I heard," Bruce said. "Everyone around there would know what the hammer looked like."

"She looked around it like she was expecting someone to be there."

"She was there when this happened before," Bruce finally agreed. "Where else did she get most of her research?"

* * *

"Your mother knows too much about that thing that fell from the sky," Jonathon told her. "You saw how she acted."

Tara was thinking, remembering what her mother used to tell her.

"You ever wonder how my mother got started with her research," she said after a while, warming up to him a little. He was dealing with the strangeness all around them with a certain calmness. "You know. . .the jumpstart."

"No one knows," he replied. "Your mother was pretty vague about it."

"What?" Tara snapped.

"She always said that she noticed strange lights. Nothing more." He had her look at him. "What did she tell you?"

"That's it?" She asked. Tara thought more to herself, and then she went to grab her mother's old and beat-up notebook. "Don't mention this to her, but I found this not too long ago."

There were strangely hand drawn pictures of a tree that connected different images of stars. Under each picture were handwritten names that he would have thought that came from the old Norse Mythology book she was reading. He read through what he could understand of the book, and he began to understand why the beginnings of the Foster Theory was vague and little known.

"Yeah," Tara said. "A little far fetched."

"A little?" He asked.

"People around here have dealt with much stranger. Trust me."

He looked out the window at the strangely patched building across the street. "Whatever happened over twenty years ago."

She nodded.

A blonde woman in green walked around the street, looking at each young person closely like she was looking for someone. She was much taller than even some of the men, and the way she carried herself like royalty. His hearing was far better than most people's, and the way she spoke was very formal which nobody did at that point. At least nobody born on Earth during the past couple decades.

The black symbols across the sky grew darker, and the strange woman stared up at them with a certain amount of fear which was bothersome coming from a woman who seemed so strong, and the world began to shake to the point that strange cracks began to crisscross the ground while cracks spread across the symbols in the sky that showed an unsettling grey light shining through.

* * *

Gaia felt sick. The World Tree was dying as the Accursed made his way through Midgard. He was making the worlds back to what they were long before time and life. She sent the vision to the woman who once wore the Helmet of Nabu, but they were too busy talking. Did they not see that the whole world was slowly dying? If the mortal woman finds her way to the World Tree, then the Accursed would win.

She paused. There was another awareness sending a message to the Helmet. Someone else was manipulating events to fit their needs, and there was only one person who had that sort of power to induce visions. The Accursed was making them have her find the World Tree by telling them that she would heal the world.

Gaia could almost hear the dark laughter of the Accursed from the void as more of the Tree began to wither.

* * *

"Play that again," the reincarnated Hawkman said, and he listened to Chloe's proclamation with closed eyes, but he shook his head. "That's not right. No matter who wore the Helmet, the voice and words would be the same, but what she said. . .it's different. Someone. . .something hijacked the Helmet." He listened one more time. "Actually, two different voices."

He was a much milder Hawkman than the one before him, still having Hawkgirl alive may have helped. His words really bothered the League. Which part do they follow? Find the woman, or do they have to kill some Asgardian?

"We need to get Jane Foster to find this World Tree," Clark said after they all silently agreed. No killing.

* * *

The Dark Elves were beaten down, and the small group came back into Midgard after their many year long absence. Waiting for them was someone he never thought he would see again. Her exile was more stringent than his brother's. Amora the Enchantress greeted them in her customary way.

"We have very little time," she said. "And no idea where the child is even hidden. I cannot sense him."

Fandral and Sif looked at each other before he said, "We may know where she lived if she had not moved."

"Better make it quick," Amora said. "Yggdrasil is dying, and He is making everything the way it was when he ruled. Oh, the mortal woman wishes to find the Tree, if she does that then your son's life blood will need to be spilled to save us all."


	6. Thunderstorm 6

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Where did you learn to cook?" Jonathon asked her as he watched Tara bang around in the small kitchen area of her home.

"Darcy, strangely," she said. "Mom can get pretty absorbed by her work, so one of us would cook while the other worked to talk her into having an actual meal." She smiled a little bit. "My mother's old teacher could be a pretty good cook, though."

"It's just you and. . ." he began before realizing too late that it may not have been polite to ask too many questions.

"I don't really know my father," she said. "Mom rarely talked about him. It would always make her very sad." She set the plate of food in front of him, and she got her plate. "If we're playing twenty personal questions, what's with you?"

He feigned confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Feet were frozen to the ground," she clarified with a ghost of a smile across her face. "You got us out. How?"

She was paying attention to him when he thought he was discreetly using his powers to save her.

"What about you?" He asked. "You're one of the few people I know who can keep up with me when I run."

"You didn't really answer the question."

"I really don't have to."

He could hear a strange bellowing from outside the town.

"You will not kill my child!"

"The All-Father -"

"Since when does a Vanir become so interested in death and bloodshed?"

The voices were coming closer to them.

"You just broke. . ."

"We need to go," he said, getting her to stand. "Fast."

Tara looked worried, and she struggled against him. A tall blonde man in armor and a red cape burst through the doors yelling for Jane. He literally did a double take when he saw Tara, and he glared at Jonathon.

"You will unhand the blood of Odin," he said in a strangely quiet yet strong voice. "Or you will taste the wrath of Thor Son of Odin."

"It looks to me that our friend was very wrong," another man with long black hair and in green mocked, eyeing the blonde woman.

"You're going to have to trust me on this," Jonathon said quietly to her.

Tara stopped struggling, and he ran them far out of town as possible, leaving behind the strange and confused party. With certain satisfaction (he was his mother's son) he enjoyed the comment made by one in the party: "Where do they learn to do that?"

* * *

"I never really got that far with my work," Jane said, leaving out most of her reasoning.

"With all that's happening," a black man said, calmly. "Perhaps it will help finish your work."

"Norse mythology," she said, trying to change tactics. "None of it exists."

She saw the video of what happened on The Day over twenty years ago, and Jane knew that she was caught in a pretty big lie. Jane had to lead them to the World Tree, and that was the one thing she promised to never do.

* * *

An older woman with raven black hair came out of her meeting and stared up at the sky. During her lifetime, she would admit to seeing the strangest things, but the dying branches of some gigantic tree in the sky would probably top them all.

A giant blue man stumbled past her, and the ground beneath his feet began to freeze. she half expected him to attack her, but instead, he froze the pale creatures with pointed ears.

"Lois!" A voice broke her out of her trance. "Go!"

Its owner attacked the giant to keep her safe.

"Wait, Clark," she said, loud enough for only him to hear. "I think he's trying to help."

* * *

Heimdall watched all and heard all. He knew that the six Asgardians were back on Midgard, and they were met with the seventh. There was something about the prisoner walking free that almost offended him. He worked to use the Bifrost to destroy a whole realm, and he was walking the Middle Realm with one of his allies could be a problem.

He heard the plan made by the people who swore to protect Midgard and her people. They refused to kill someone, and now they were having the woman find the World Tree. They were being used. That much he could tell. They were like their old selves, but it was like they refused to listen to reason.

"What is happening?" He asked.

Thor refused to allow his child to die. It was he who knew that there had to be a different way that did not involve death. He may not have been the only one who wished that, judging by how the other Asgardians reacted. Amora seemed far too interested in the child's death, even going so far as to claim that Odin All-Father had decreed it to be so.

The child had vanished, and not even Heimdall knew where she was hidden, and she would need to be found soon because her mother had begun her work to find the World Tree.

* * *

"What the hell was that about?" Tara demanded, pushing herself away from Jonathon. "What the hell?"

"You didn't hear what they were saying," he answered far too calmly for her liking. "They were going to kill you."

His answer hit her, and she winced. No one should hear that people wanted them dead for no apparent reason.

"They think they'll save the world if you die," he said after awhile. "Tara. . ."

"None of this happened until you showed up," she said. "Maybe they're after you."

He gave her a look, more to calm her down than anything. How was she supposed to act when she found out that people wanted her dead and dead for a pretty pointless reason.

Maybe everything that was happening around began to take its toll, or maybe she was starting to feel a little worried for her mother. There was one part in that old notebook that she found that sounded too much like what was happening now, and there was a short handwritten note by her mother to her father that talked about her.

Tara began to cry.


	7. Thunderstorm 7

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Dick realized that something was up. Bruce was acting differently, slightly different, but it was enough to worry him. At first, he thought that it had something to do with a certain thief being loose, but Dick began to look at it all closer.

It started when he went to the Watchtower for a meeting to figure out what to do with all that was happening. That was when he came across one of his (in)famous contingency plans, and it had everything he needed to know and do for each possible scenario. If he went to the meeting there were two different things Dick had to do, and he, later, found out their plan to save the world. There was only one thing he could do. Find Jane Foster's daughter.

* * *

Jonathon pulled her into a hug, and she still cried. Their whole world was crumbling, and there were people who thought she needed to die to save it. Everything may have been too much for her to handle.

Tara pulled away from him and wiped her eyes. "Wait a minute. . .that crater. . ."

"What?" He asked, keeping her from moving.

"The hammer. . .maybe. . .maybe," she broke off.

"How do you know there's a hammer?" He asked her.

"I can see it," she answered.

He knew that he could see the object, but how could she?

"You are really difficult to get a hold of," the voice of an old friend of his said.

Both of them turned to see a young man with shaggy black hair. He was short, but he definitely looked like he could handle himself in a fight. He wore aviator sunglasses which covered his eyes.

"Middle of Nowhere," Tara replied. "And that storm's not helping things."

"So there are these strangely dressed people back in town, and they are all but fighting each other," he said. "What did you do to tick them off?"

"I ran off with her," Jonathon answered, nodding at Tara who was watching the sky over the large crater within the desert.

"That's why I'm here," he said. "Have you ever wondered who your father was, Touron Foster?"

She looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "You don't know anything."

"I'm who you would call Nightwing, and I was the first Robin."

"Good for you." Then what he said dawned on her. "Oh."

"What has your mother told you about what happened here?" The one called Nightwing asked her.

"Something came through and almost leveled the entire town," Tara said, being vague.

"No really."

Tara grimaced. "She never told me this. . .like really told me." She got really quiet and paid close attention to the lightning flashing across the sky. "I don't think my dad's from around here."

* * *

Jane's most recent work was used on some of the technology her theory helped design, and she had an uneasy feeling. She was breaking the one promise she made over twenty years to the woman who helped her.

Tara's birth was difficult to the point that she did not think that the two of them would even survive. Her strange heritage from her father probably made it that way. For some reason, the doctors and nurses allowed a strange red headed woman to come into her room, and she was the one who saved both of them.

It was in that moment that Jane realized that the strange woman was way more than she seemed. She seemed to wear three different faces at once: a maiden, a mother, a crone, but there was a fourth much darker and more hidden one. The woman held her daughter, and she gave her a strange and very formal benediction before handing the babe to her mother.

"Touron means 'loved by Thor' if you're still thinking of a name," she said with a hint of a smile.

The girl, her daughter, had his eyes, both in color and by the way she looked at the world. Jane remembered smiling at the girl, and for a brief moment she thought that her daughter smiled back, causing lightning to flash and thunder to boom.

"He wishes to see you again," the woman with red hair said. "But he had to destroy the Bridge to save a race from dying. He watches over you though."

"Does he know about her?"

"Not yet," the woman said. "I have shielded her aura, and I always will until she would come into her own. Trust me on that." A faint green light surrounded the baby girl before vanishing. "You must do something for me, my child, in return. When you find it, keep the path to Yggdrasil a secret. Your life and those of the people around you would be in jeopardy if you show anyone. No matter their motive."

The group of heroes who showed themselves to the world asked her to lead them to the very thing she promised to keep hidden, saying that it would save the world. She and the one they would keep calling Cyborg reworked some of their zeta tube technology, and she noticed that there was something almost. . .off about his eyes. . .almost vacant, like he was only going through the motions.

They got a rather unsettling call about a massive fight happening in New Mexico, and two of their number, the Hawks, left. Jane vaguely heard the descriptions of each of the seven people in that fight, and she froze. It had to be him. . .

"You know what," Darcy muttered to her when they were distracted. "You'd think the tech guy would have an idea of how this thing worked. Didn't you see him? He had to wait for you to show him what to do. Almost every time. Something's up."

Jane pulled out her cell phone to call her daughter. "Tara. . .please tell me you're safe."

"As safe as anyone could be right now," she said. She seemed a little shaken. "Mom, I think. . .I think I saw my dad, and he's with people who wants me dead."

* * *

They were fighting. Thor would not let them follow the young woman. He had only just seen her for a few short moments, and already he fought to save his child.

It was the two warriors he knew from a battle almost hundreds of years ago. All seven of them stopped their fighting, and it was Loki who looked at them closely.

"Something's not right," he said. He turned to look at Amora. "What have you done?"

Amora completely changed. Her eyes darkened.

"What my master has commanded me to do," she spat at him. "The mortal woman will show the way to Yggdrasil, and soon everything will be as it should."

* * *

He stopped fighting to look to her, and Lois almost instinctively knew that he was not himself.

"Clark," she said for only him to hear. "Whatever this is, you have to snap out this."

He blinked and shook his head to clear it, and he stepped away from the giant blue man. Clark seemed like a man coming out of a daze, and he looked at her with an almost confusion. He paused for a moment.

"They found a way to the World Tree," he said, but he did not sound too happy about that. "I need to stop that."


	8. Thunderstorm 8

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Her mother was silent after she told her those words.

"Mom," Tara said after awhile. "Those stories you used to tell me, they were real, weren't they."

"Mostly."

"Mom, now's not the time," she said. "Just tell me. Please."

Her mother told her about her father, the prince from her childhood stories, and she felt that the one thing she was missing for years finally fell back into place.

"I have to finish something," she told her. "I'm doing something I probably shouldn't but get the hammer. Maybe. . ." In the background, Tara could hear the sound of some of her mother's equipment. She managed to get her portal to work. "I have a feeling that you can lift it. You're so much like your father. . ."

Tara looked in the direction of the large crater, and she could see the hammer, oddly enough. There were people there trying to lift it for themselves, but the object would never budge.

"We need to get to that hammer," she said.

Jonathon shook his head. "No. We need to get you far away from here."

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe it can help protect me, but we need to to there. Now."

"If you can lift it," he said. "We're not going on a guess."

Nightwing had a ghost of a smile, probably enjoying their exchange. "Her father could. It's probably genetic."

* * *

It was strange, Loki almost mused to himself, never having tricks in motion for the perfect double cross. It did feel a little wrong, being surprised by Amora's sudden betrayal. He fixed the minds of the two ancient souls, and the man really wanted to attack the Enchantress, but Fandral and Hogun restrained him.

"Now's not the time," Hogun said.

"No, it's just your death," Amora hissed.

A woman with red hair, someone they never would have thought to see, ever, appeared, and Amora could not use her magic. She walked to the Enchantress who began to shake with a certain amount of fear. Whatever she saw within the woman had a powerful affect on her, and she fled.

"That's not the last we see of her," the redhead commented. "She'll go lick her wounds and beg her master's forgiveness." She looked on Thor with a certain amount of fondness. "The world has missed you, my son." Thor nodded his greeting to the mother he barely knew. She turned her attention to the ancient souls. "It's been awhile since I last saw the two of you."

"Neith," Hawkgirl said in a reverent greeting, and Hawkman inclined his head in respect.

"She's Jord!" Thor almost boomed at them, and Loki rolled his eyes skyward.

"My son," the woman said. "I go by many names."

The storm overhead them went crazy. It spread across the whole sky. Loki knew that the weather came not from Thor but from his child walking the Earth, slowly coming into her own.

"Jane Foster has found a way to Yggdrasil the World Tree, and everything will come to a head," the woman with many names said, also watching the storm rage around them. "And Amora's magic will make sure that Malekith the Accursed will get to the roots and finish what he has wrought."

A grimace of pain ran across Thor's face, and Loki could almost guess at what he was thinking. Amora, who always had feelings for Thor during their younger years, would take great glee in spilling the blood of the mortal woman who had caught Thor's eye.

"We can help stop this from happening," Hawkman said.

"I can make it seem like you are still under her spell," Loki said. "I know what her enchantments are like."

"Why should we trust you?" Sif demanded. She barely spoke save for only what she felt important. "You betrayed us all for your own glory."

He expected that. "She tricked me, too."

* * *

Jonathon, Dick, and Tara came to the hammer. There were people around it. The thing was a constant challenge. No one could lift the thing, and the locals spoke of it in almost awed tones. They claimed it could make a person into a god, giving him power of lightning and wind and bringing him back from the dead.

Tara slipped down the crater and walked to the hammer. She ran her hand on the handle, and she paused. She was looking at Jonathon, and he smiled at her and gave her a small nod.

Dick raised an eyebrow. "You've been busy."

She actually picked up the hammer and held it out in front of her. The storm let up for a brief moment, and one single bolt of lightning came straight from the hammer itself. Tara, herself, seemed to stand taller and more magnificent. The crowd in the crater stared at the young woman who could lift the strange hammer.

Jonathon walked over to her, and he could see the inscription on it: "Whosoever holds this hammer, though he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."

"What does this mean?" Tara asked him. "For me?"

He rested his hands on her shoulders. "You wanted to help, and now you can."

* * *

At the exact moment when Tara picked up the hammer, a loud sound reverberated across all Nine Realms, a sort of joyous song. It had been many a long year since an Asgardian was born. The world was almost rejoicing.

In Asgard, Heimdall saw the young woman, raised as a humble mortal, pick up the hammer, and he saw the new pathway to where the World Tree was hidden. Her footsteps were dogged by the Accursed.

"Send her to the World Tree," Odin said, almost resigned to what was happening around him.

He may have disapproved of his son's connection to the mortal woman, but she helped him get over his arrogance, making him worthy to be considered as the Son of Odin. It was his child who was worthy, and she was the one who, unconsciously, caused the storm that would stop the movement of the Dark Elves.

Odin All-Father summoned his powers, and the blood of his blood was moved to the roots, to step in her mother's stead. Maybe it would prevent the death of the gods and the destruction of everything that was seen and unseen, creating the chaotic darkness of the Time Before.

* * *

There was a flash of rainbow light, and Jonathon and Tara were staring up at a rather large tree. Tara could have sworn that the very stars were the leaves of the tree. Even she could tell that the tree was slowly dying. A large and clear pool of water was at the roots of the living World Tree, and her mother was staring around her with a large amount of wonder.

Tara set down the hammer and ran to her mother. They did not speak, did not really need to, only hugged each other.

"How touching," a woman's voice mocked.

The two of them turned to a tall blonde woman in green. There was jealous rage and fanaticism in her eyes, meaning she would do anything to achieve her ends. Jonathon flew at the woman, so fast that not even she could react to him, but he was soon chained by a sickly green light that came from her hands. It could only be described as magic.

Tara began to mock and berate the woman, standing in between her mother and her, and her words had their desired effect. The woman's jealous rage turned into a blind fury with each word Tara said to her.

She felt a blinding pain, and a warm wetness ran down stomach. The woman was laughing triumphantly as Tara stumbled back into the pond, and her mother was crying, and Jonathon was yelling. Her hands were covered with her blood, and she barely had enough strength to stay on her feet.

"Tara," her mother said, still crying, catching her so she would not hit her head as she fell back.

Her breathing came out in ragged gasps, so she could not say anything, only looking up at her mother and hoping that she would understand. The other woman was laughing with a certain amount of glee, enjoying what had happened. She was staring up at the tree, hoping to see it wither and die.

Jonathon was free, and he was on her other side. He, too, was crying. Tara could see the pain he had, and it almost mirrored her mother's whenever someone would casually reference Tara's father. He had a hold of her other hand which he kissed.

Grey came into her vision, and it spread all around her. For some reason, she was at peace with that. She could hear an almost distant yelling, and another face broke through the grey. He looked like the strangely dressed bearded man she met before being ran off from her home, but she saw her eyes. Her father was crying just as hard as her mother, that much she could see before the grey began to turn into black and the pain would slowly go away.


	9. Thunderstorm 9

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Clark?" Lois whispered when they looked out the window of Watchtower. The pale creatures with pointy ears and very sharp teeth turned to stone. "Those elves. . .they're dying. . .I think."

The elves each let out a collective groan, and they turned to stone. Cracks spread across each stone elf before they turned to dust. All the elves were soon gone.

Clark, still in his red and blue, watched the scene below them. "What happened?"

Chloe stopped her constant watch over what was happening to turn to the two of them. "The others were knocked out by wherever the big gigantic tree was. They're slowly waking up. Hawkman and Hawkgirl. . ." She listened to the other end of communications, and she looked pretty. . .un-Chloe-like. "Jonathon saw what happened. It. . .he. . .will need his parents."

* * *

Jane had to be pulled from her daughter, and even then, she still struggled against whoever was holding her back. She could barely hear what Thor was telling her. All her attention was on Tara.

Jonathon Kent scooped her daughter into his hands, ignoring her blood. He wore the same look she had when Thor saved her and others from the Destroyer when he was with her.

"Why did she have to do that?" Jane found her voice. "Why?"

No one chose to answer her. Even so far removed from the world, they could tell that Tara's sacrifice saved the world. Somehow. The tree, which at first looked old and withered, began to grow newer looking, almost revitalized, and the pond beneath the healed roots was crystal clear and shone with a hidden light, and there was no evidence of the dark and mold and then later bloodied water of before.

Thor picked up his hammer, and he carried it at his side, grief written across his face. He may not have known his daughter, but he grieved as much as Jane.

"She blocked us," he told her. "It should have been me, Jane. I am deeply sorry."

* * *

Odin could feel Yggdrasil as it was healed, and he felt a sense of relief. He stood next to Heimdall who stared across the slowly healing Bifrost.

"Your son grieves," Heimdall said. "He lost his daughter when she died to save the World Tree, and he grieves with her mother."

Odin was shocked when he could first sense the child of the mortal woman his son was so fond of. He should have been able to sense her birth, maybe then she would have received a proper upbringing instead of being tainted by the mortal world. He felt. . .nothing.

* * *

She wanted to scream! Scream! How dare that spawn interfere! It was the perfect plan. Revenge against Odin for her exile when Asgard would fall to Malekith and his followers once Midgard was securely within their grasp. The foolish mortal woman would be long dead, and Thor would have been hers after she comforted him over the loss of his woman, realm, and family.

That. . .that girl ruined it all! It was not fair.

Amora took several calming breaths as she waited for her newer associate. Malekith could not get what she wanted, so she went on to someone else. Someone who hated Asgard and Odin just as much as she.

"I know that you know the hidden pathways that even Heimdall is blind to," she said. "I will create your armies, and you will get the throne that should have been yours."

Her new associate smirked. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to involve me. My brother is blinded by his grief, and he blames his father for not stepping in to aid her. Perhaps the fallout of your failed plan can be useful to me."

* * *

Jonathon laid Tara down on the hospital bed, and even though she was bloodless pale and covered in her own blood, she looked like she was sleeping. He ran a hand through her hair with a certain amount of regret. Over the few hours, he realized that there could be a future for the two of them, an interesting future.

It was the look in her eyes when he talked to her after she picked up the hammer. Impressed mixed with shock. She saw him as arrogant, at first, not really seeing that he was genuine, but when he talked to her, she realized that she misjudged him. She looked almost tenderly at him before they were transported to that place.

He heard his parents walk into the room. His mother wrapped an arm around his shoulders into a hug, and his father finished the small circle. There they stood, sharing the grief.

There was only one thing he obsessed about. Why did she do it that way? Why did she not use the hammer? She set it down before she aggravated the older woman, why?

Jonathon did not pay attention to the very, very faint heartbeat in the room.

* * *

Gaia watched it all, and she felt a great, great pain. All the worlds were saved by Touron's sacrifice, but she grieved. Tears rolled down her face even as Yggdrasil was healed. She could see the half Asgardian, pale and almost serene looking, and the young man with a just as storied family as hers watched over her.

A faint green glow surrounded Touron as Gaia let go of her shielding, and the blood of her blood became just as her bloodline should have made her. She became an Asgardian that she should have been in death.

Lightning flashed across the sky as her chest began to rise and fall, and the thunder began to boom in time with her slow and weak heartbeat.

* * *

White. . .she was surrounded by bright light. She could faintly hear her mother's tears and her father's yells, and she felt guilty for taking the action that led to her death.

She felt no pain, only a certain calmness, but she felt anxious. Not restful, not even close.

A plan. There was a plan. Using her father's grief and rage against her grandfather in a quest to take the throne of Asgard through bloodshed. Jealousy and anger. He should have been king. . .that same woman. . .

"Wake up," a voice told her. "Wake up!"


	10. Thunderstorm 10

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Jon," Dick told him. "I'm so sorry. . ." He would have noticed that he began to like the strange girl from New Mexico. Dick was definitely trained by Batman.

Jonathon never really left her side since he brought her. He shared in the bedside vigil with her strange family. Apparently it was an Asgardian tradition for the family to do a vigil for the fallen family member. The whole time, he heard the weak heartbeat that became stronger with each peal of thunder. Each flash of lightning showed that her skin was getting more color.

"Yeah. . ." he said. "Yeah. . ."

An older woman with red hair and in a simple dark green robe came into the room, and she rested over Tara's forehead in a sort of benediction. Tear tracks lined her face. One tear slid down her nose and landed on Tara's forehead. The spot where it landed glowed a faint blue before vanishing.

"Wake up," she whispered to Tara. "Wake up."

Tara's eye's opened, and the lightning flashed very bright in the night sky.

* * *

Jane was staring out the window, barely even registering Thor's very presence. She had been crying off and on since Tara's death, and nothing could ever make her feel any better. She could not help but think about the broken promise she made on the night of Tara's birth, and the thought that she may have caused the death by being at the Tree made her feel even worse. It was always the mother's job to protect her children, no matter what.

It was the woman with black hair who finally talked with her after what happened at the Tree. Her name was Lois, Jane later learned and Clark's wife of over twenty years. She spent most of the time just talking with Jane, not once trying to distract her from her grief or even sympathizing with her. That was not what she needed, and somehow, the reporter who practically appeared out of nowhere seemed to be aware of that.

The time during the family vigil over Tara was horrible. Jane could barely stay in the same room as her daughter, so she would go in and out of it to hold her hand and whisper something to her.

For Thor it was almost as hard. He found he had a child with the mortal woman he loved, only to see her die while trying to save her mother's life. For him his grief was tinted more with a deep rage. Rage at his father. Someone who could have easily stopped what had happened to Tara. It was an almost murderous rage that only boiled over when he heard mention of his father.

The two women could hear the faint conversation between Clark and Thor. Clark was working hard to talk the God of Thunder down from turning his back on his own father among other things.

"That type of anger could be used against you," Clark was saying over and over in such a way that could have someone know that he dealt with something similar. "There would be people who would do it."

Thor would have none of it. "He has the power. He could have prevented all this. . .and Touron would still be alive."

"She chose her own fate," Clark shot back.

The two women followed their voices, and they were sitting in front the door to the room. Thor tried to shove Clark aside in his anger, but he realized that the mild mannered reporter was more than really met the eye. His strength almost matched Thor's. The God of Thunder stared at the Kryptonian in wonder, and he narrowed his eyes before they widened.

"I have heard what you did," he said, his voice still full of his hidden rage, but it was more contained. "Very few people could have done what you did."

A look of embarrassment passed across Clark's face. Apparently, even after all those years, he was still uncomfortable with the outright praise of his hero acts. It something that Thor saw which he would later say made him respect the displaced alien even more.

A woman with red hair and a covered face pushed her way past the small group and into the room. From what they could see, the woman was crying. Only Thor really recognized her, and Jane had her suspicions. Either way, that woman's appearance had to mean she was about to do something big.

* * *

Loki carefully showed his father what Thor spoke and thought. He defied his father's orders to return to Asgard after the ordeal at the Tree was finished, and yet, he was still on Midgard, giving his bastard hybrid a funeral fit for an Asgardian royal. All done against his father's wishes.

Odin All-Father, however, grew very serious. He noticed something that Loki could not, or perhaps even would not, understand. The aged and wizened king stood up from his throne and abruptly left the throne room, forcing Loki to be escorted back to where he was in exile by the guards. His foster father went to speak with the Norns as was his wont.

He thought back to what he showed and told the king he hated, and nothing came out to him. Just a grieving family. Nothing.

* * *

Tara felt sore. Very sore. Her head was pounding, and even moving seemed like a horrible idea. The light overhead her dimmed down, a lot, and a woman with red hair was standing on one side of her bed and Jonathon the other.

"How did I get here?" She choked out. Tara had the feeling she normally got whenever she found herself sleeping in the RV instead of the old and cluttered house, and that was her being very confused. A strange look passed across Jonathon's face.

"He got you out of there," the one called Nightwing said, shooting Jonathon a knowing glance. He left the room, and the strange woman followed before she herself disappeared into thin air, it seemed.

Jonathon grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it, just making sure she was alive. In what seemed like an absent movement, he kissed the inside of her wrist.

"It's good that you're alive," he told her quietly.


	11. Thunderstorm 11

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"He saw it all happening," her father began to rant as he started to pace. "And yet he led you to your death. He's controlling. . ."

"Thor. . .Thor," Jane tried to calm him down. "This was like last time. You told me he had his reasons."

"This was different. She could have died."

"You don't understand," Jane replied. "There was no way she would have really died. I don't think so, at least. She's like you. Tara was always like you."

Tara could hear the conversation even from her own room.

"Great." Tara said to Jonathon. "Great. This isn't going to end well."

She was still stuck on bedrest. Emil Hamilton not wanting her out of bed for even a little while, not really understanding that she was not like most people.

"What did you hear when. . ." Jonathon floundered.

Tara understood. "Stuff. I think he'll be manipulated into doing something bad. They're going to use his anger at. . .my grandfather to start a war or something."

"Little weird for you?" Jonathon asked her. Never once did he leave her side since she woke up. Not that she was complaining.

"My whole life the only family I had were my mom, Darcy and Erik," she answered. "And also, it's kinda weird calling Norse gods family."

* * *

The world looked like nothing had changed, despite the strangeness that spread across the globe. People went back to doing their normal activities, not sure how everything had changed so fast.

A woman with long blonde hair and wearing all green walked with a man with black hair and also wearing green. On the surface the pair seemed to be enjoying each other's company and taking in the sights around them. Too bad that was not what they were really doing." They were Amora the Enchantress and Loki, and they were almost reveling in how easily his "brother" was being manipulated.

"It will be only a matter of time before he fights Odin," Amora said. "You will get your throne."

Loki felt a certain amount of satisfaction, but he grew suspicious. "It comes at a price, does it not?"

"It does," she answered. "Free a certain prisoner once you become king. That is all."

* * *

Malekith raged at how his plan fell apart. It was perfect. Everything could have been back to what is like when he was in power. Only darkness and emptiness. A meddling Asgradian ruined it all, and now he was stuck in his prison feeling his once great power waning as Life grew on unchecked.

A vision of one of his followers appeared.

"Your enemy will be brought low, and a puppet king will be in his place. Your Dark Reign will return."

The Dark Elves all silently saluted their Dark Master. "May the Darkness consume! And may the Accursed One rise up!"

* * *

Gaia moved unseen through that strange building that held the blood of her blood. She lived, but there was still darkness. The darkness surrounded her son, and it could only mean that someone was making him hate, making him angered.

Touron had no way to control her new-found powers. She did not grow up with them like her father, and whenever her emotions changed, thunder boomed.

The ancient woman went unseen into the young woman's room and rested a hand over her forehead as she slept. Through that link, she helped her learn how to control her powers, and maybe Touron would become something more. Something greater.

A raven watched her actions. The only thing that could see her, and understand.

* * *

After he spoke with the Norns, Odin stared across the Bifrost Bridge. Their words were enough to make him think. Even at that moment, the leader of one of his allies was making a special hammer made of uru, and despite everything, he felt that it may not end right.

One of his ravens finally returned to his side, and it whispered to him what it saw and heard.

"Maybe I was wrong," he muttered more to himself. "Why would she hide her?"

There was an even older legend. . .something that would have been considered a prophecy. The blood of both Midgard and Asgard flowed through her veins, and that was something that had not been seen since Sigurd's life. Maybe that was why Gaia felt she had to protect Thor's child with the mortal.

* * *

Ever since that day, Tara refused to even touch her father's hammer. She knew that the moment she touched it, she changed completely. Never once did she move from her room, even after being given the all-clear.

He sat with her. Maybe to commiserate with her or at least as close as he could. Jonathon had time to get used to his powers over the years, but Tara was given hers suddenly. It would take her time, and by what she told them, there might not be enough time.

"He left," she said after her mother talked with her. "I'm fine, and he would still. . .why would I think he would stay. He missed her."

Tara was continuing her almost-rant about the father she barely even knew. She heard him tell her mother that he missed her, but he wasted no time in going back home to deal with his father.

"Stop thinking about it," Jonathon told her. "Worrying won't change things."

"I can't," she replied. "I meet my father, and he won't stay. It would have been better if he didn't come back."

"Yeah, you don't believe that."

"I do. It hurts my mom. Like really hurts."

She would not change her mind. Even the few hours she spoke with her father, she still felt the resentment of being abandoned. It was probably best to get off that subject, which she gladly accepted.

Jonathon began to realize how good an idea it was. Tara was actually smiling, and her face lit up.

"Tell me," she said after awhile. "Your reaction. . .mom said said you stayed the whole time."

"Yeah. . .well. . .um," he mumbled, feeling his ears grow hot.

She gave a little laugh and kissed his cheek. "How sweet. I managed to make you speechless."

"Funny," he said. "Very funny."

Two ravens sat on the branch outside the window, watching their every movements before flying off.

* * *

Thor walked into the throne room only to see his foster brother sitting on it. Amora the Enchantress waved a hand, and he lost his hammer as the different guards began to surround him.

"What took you so long. . .brother?"


	12. Thunderstoarm 12

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The strange phenomena began to happen again all around the world, but it was different if that was even possible. There were insane atmospheric disturbances that did not match what happened the several days before. As before, strange creatures appeared and disappeared all across the world. Strangely, though, the different creatures were fighting each other, completely ignoring the shocked people around them.

Wonder Woman watched some of the insanity with a certain amount of anger.

"The gods have been forbidden to directly interfere here on Earth," she explained to Hawkgirl. "And yet, here are the Norse gods fighting one of their destructive wars."

"I know, believe me, I know," Hawkgirl replied. "Remember, Charley and I have been around for a pretty long time."

A young woman with blonde hair and dressed in blue appeared to the pair. Wonder Woman recognized her almost instantly.

"Harbinger," she said in an almost greeting. "What brings you here?"

"Diana, Kendra," she said. "I was sent here because of my visions. What you see happening here and all over. . .all the realms are melting here in a terrible war."

"We can see that," Hawkgirl, now called Kendra, remarked, watching what looked like to be a couple of dwarves fighting tall and blue giants. "Tell us what we don't know."

"Odin was removed from his throne and missing," Harbinger finally said.

"That can't. . .happen," Wonder Woman, known as Diana, said in shock. She knew the implications from that, if only vaguely.

"He has grown weak," Harbinger explained. "About to enter the Odinsleep. His son Loki took advantage of his weakness and the fact that his other son was here, grieving, and he deposed Odin who is now powerless and missing."

"You were sent to tell us to find a way to find him and get his kingdom back," Kendra said. "Or the world, as we know it, will end."

* * *

The hammer was finished, even with a heated battle erupting around their kingdom. The Dwarf king handed the newly-fashioned hammer to an older man wearing a ratty cloak and what could be described as a moth-eaten hat that covered his face in shadow.

"I hope you know what you're doing," the Dwarf king remarked. "You're staking too much on a gamble."

"Not a gamble," the other man replied. "The royal family will save all the realms."

The Dwarf gave a bitter laugh. "What royal family? The All-Father is missing. Thor is imprisoned. There is nothing."

"There is always hope."

* * *

An old man walked the Earth for what would have been the first time for him in almost hundreds of years. He was just an old wanderer looking for someone.

There was the words of prophecy that practically sang in his mind even though prophecy was pointless and almost wasteful. People themselves make their own destiny. They do not need someone around to point them in the right direction, to hold their hand. There was a race of beings who felt otherwise. He shook his head to concentrate more on his search.

Two ravens flew to him and landed on his shoulders, and each one whispered something into his ears. Thought and Memory told him where she was.

* * *

Amora paced the throne room, waiting for the new king to acknowledge his end of the bargain. She easily handed him the throne, and even now, her created and recruited armies were stamping out the rebellion in the other realms.

"I gave you all of this, Loki," she said, being sweet. "Now, I need the pathways to get to Svartalheim. You promised."

The realm drew Loki up short, and why should it not? It was the realm that a being from before all creation who was beaten by Odin.

"You've sided with Malekith the Accursed!" Loki spat at her.

"I thought you realized it," Amora said, her true nature being exposed. "Now, that pathway. Where is it?"

* * *

Jonathon finally convinced Tara to get out of the room and outside. He was showing her the sights of Metropolis. Tara looked around her in awe, never having stepped foot in a city like that her whole life, and for a moment she seemed like she was willing to forget everything that happened.

"You grew up here?" She remarked. "You look like a farmboy."

"Ha. Ha," he replied. "Yeah. Both my parents work here."

Tara gave him a side look. "Yeah. That doesn't sound like a loaded statement."

"No idea what you're talking about," Jonathon replied quickly.

"Really?" Tara said, narrowing her eyes. "You pretty much know everything about my family. Why don't you tell me. . .really tell me about your family."

"We just met."

"Uh huh. Didn't stop you from grieving with my parents."

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you."

She snorted. "Try me."

Jonathon told her the long story of his family's history and everything his father had done. Tara listened, almost in awe, and she began to understand him just a little more.

"That's why!" She said when he finished. "You're like your dad."

"Be quiet," he said, looking around him. "You have no idea who's listening."

"Fine." She stopped walking. "You know I didn't really like you when we first met."

"I figure that out," he replied.

"You really changed my mind," she said, giving him a sweet smile.

There was screaming and a loud roar that ripped through the city. Rainbow lights danced across the sky, and strange beings and creatures were fighting each other before vanishing.

"No. . .no," Tara said. "I thought he would stop this. He had to."

An old man was watching them, though they did not notice him at the time. No one had. He leaned rather heavily on his tall and gnarled staff and walked over to them. He set down a hammer, one that only Tara could lift, before walking off.

"How did that get here?" Tara asked when she saw the hammer.

It was very similar to her father's, but it was different. There were different markings and looked a little smaller.

Almost hesitantly, Tara took hold of the hammer, and in the distance the sound of thunder and a flash of lightning began to happen, breaking through the chaos that erupted around the world. She could lift the hammer rather easily.

* * *

Dick was looking through the records of the rather spur of the moment meeting of the League. Each member went on to parts of the world where the strange occurrences and atmospheric disturbances were in strength, and they all mysteriously vanished. He could not get a hold of his mentor. There was nothing.

"You're going to have to get a hold of the rest of us," he told Watchtower. "We need to stop this and somehow find the League."


	13. Thunderstorm 13

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

The people who did quite make it to the League gathered, listening to Nightwing's most dreaded news. No one wanted to hear that the League just completely vanished, and a lot of the them were some of the most powerful members. For many of them they lost their teachers or their own family members.

"They had some kind of tip before they went on to the eight different hot spots," Nightwing explained. "I know this may sound out there, but. . ."

"No," a girl said with a dark and almost emotionless voice and wearing a black hood that covered her face. Her eyes peeked out from the dark shadow the hood created, looking up at the carefree vigilante. "With that happened and is happening, I am sure this could be pretty tame."

Nightwing explained everything he knew before telling them his different plans he had come up with when he heard the news.

"One problem," Wally West remarked. "How are we gonna get there?"

"I think I know," Tara said. "But, I have to help."

Some of them, more vocally Jonathon, did not think it was a sound plan. It being dangerous for her.

"This is a family matter," she said in a voice that somehow became more majestic as she spoke. "My father's been imprisoned, and his father is missing. I will not stand by and watch." She went on to explain her plan, and even then, it became clear she was hiding something important. "This is the middle realm. Those hot spots. . .they're gateways to other realms. As you said, there's some kind of war happening all over, and its deeply affecting all the other realms. Mom can find a way to get to Asgard. She's been working on it for years."

"So, stop it there," Nightwing finished. "And it will spread."

"Hopefully."

* * *

"Well, Kent," Bruce said to his old friend and colleague as three large Frost Giants lumbered to them. "Your plan was brilliant."

"It should have been straightforward," Clark replied.

The two of them for the attack that would have happened, as it happened several times before.

"Valkyries!" A woman's voice commanded overhead of them. "Attack!"

Each of the warriors were on flying horses, and they came out of a portal made of rainbow light. Each of them were able to help knock the creatures to the ground and grab a hold of the two heroes and taking them through another portal of rainbow lights.

* * *

Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter were about to be chained and led to some kind of prison with other different assorted groups of people. It was J'onn's telepathic powers confused some of the armed guards. Diana knocked them down and broke the different chains off the rest of the prisoners.

The first three prisoners almost gleefully joined in the fight with the other enemies. A Robin Hood looking one and a Japanese looking one created a lift with their hands, and they lifted him at the biggest of the creatures. The man brought the creature down as he fell to the ground. They managed to subdue those creatures, and the big man introduced the three of them as the Warriors Three.

"I wonder how the others are doing?" She asked the Martian.

* * *

Charley and Kendra appeared in a place that appeared to be uninhabited and completely empty, but they could hear the whispers of the people they once knew in their many lifetimes.

"It was a long journey. Just rest now. You've earned it."

They were about to close their eyes, but something inside Charley made him fight it. He made sure Kendra fought it, also.

"You two smell of Death," a woman's voice rasped, and they saw its owner in the dim light. She was robed in green with her face covered with a hood, and she sat upon a throne. "Your time among the living has long ended. I can give you a paradise, if you so wish."

"It won't work that way," Kendra replied, even though the two of them hated Hath-Set's curse always hanging over their heads.

"We need to find a way out of here," Charley told her.

"To fight my father?" The woman asked. "Then ideally I should keep you here, but my loving father would betray me when he had the chance." A pathway appeared. "I have shown you the way from my realm, but know this, should one of you die in the battle for Asgard, your souls belong to me."

* * *

"You weren't sure about who you are," Jonathon told her. "And yet, you're entering a war to free your father."

"I had time to think," Tara replied, staring at the hammer she found.

"Not enough time."

"It was more than enough," Tara said. "My mom used to tell me stories about this prince who would fight for his kingdom and people. He sacrificed a lot to keep them safe. I'm beginning to think she was talking about my father."

"So? You don't need to prove yourself to him."

"That's not it!"

"What is it, then?" He asked her. "I must be missing something here."

"They'll kill him," she told him. "And despite everything, Mom still loves him."

He accepted what she said. "What do you really know? You never set foot there."

"I don't know," she admitted. "One morning when I woke up, I pretty much knew everything I needed to know." She became thoughtful, trying to remember a half-forgotten dream. "There's something else, too, but I don't remember it. At all."

They watched her mother and Darcy scramble around their lab, messing with their technology, getting it ready to transport whoever was left to the heart of the battle.

"Whatever it is," he told her. "We will stop it in time."

"One can hope."

* * *

"Chloe?" Oliver Queen said into the com-link. "Can you get me to the others?" He noticed he was not alone. "And make it quick, an Elf is giving me the evil eye. Chloe?"

He heard nothing from her, but before he could react, a wolf-like creature started to attack. The elf next to him started to shoot arrows that sent the creatures away in a flash of rainbow light.

"Come, Archer," the elf said. "We must go."

"Yeah," Oliver replied. "I'm not one for running."

More strange creatures appeared, ready to attack. "Loki's forces will not stop until we're all gone."

"Kind of figured that." He started shooting at the coming creatures, but none of his trick arrows seemed to work on them.

"These are special arrows, Archer," the elf said, handing him his quiver before running off, motioning him to follow. "Is your aim true."

"I do alright."

* * *

"Deals is a deal, Loki," Amora said.

"Why else do you think I helped my brother against him?" Loki spat back at her.

"I gave you the throne. Sent Odin away. Imprisoned your brother. Now, you must do something for me. That pathway."

"He will destroy everything!"

"It doesn't matter."

* * *

The portal was running, and it shone with rainbow colored light. They were all facing the portal, ready to leave, but for some reason, Nightwing was stalling. He had a very enlightening conversation with Tara and Jonathon. The two old friends decided that the world needed them, especially at that point when the world was starting to fall apart. They were all over the world helping set things as right as they possibly could.

"You going alone?" Jonathon asked her.

"If this fails, they will come here. You and the others will be the only hope for the world to survive."

Tara moved to the portal, but she looked to Jonathon. She was going to say something, but he pulled her to him and kissed her.

"For luck," he told her.

She did not say anything. Well, could not say anything, and she walked through the portal. The young woman who caught his attention had completely vanished, but the portal was still open. Her mother was waiting.

"Go after her," she told him. "Trust me on this."

He ran through the portal and found himself in what would have been a beautiful city. There was an all out battle in the streets. He saw Tara in the thick of it, running to what should be the palace, but she was not fast enough. He ran over to her and picked her up as he made his way into the palace.

"Wait?" She demanded. "What are you doing?"

"Didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?"


	14. Thunderstorm 14

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

They were in Asgard. A city that should have been breathtakingly beautiful, but the buildings were ruined. Some were caved in on each other. While others on fire. There was fighting in the palace, but it was between the guards who were loyal to whoever was king and a ragtag group of warriors.

"Jon?" His father asked, in surprise more than anything. "What are you doing here?"

Jonathon's eyes flicked over to Tara and back to his father. "I think it's pretty obvious."

A giant robot that seemed to have been built by metal and fire. It stopped moving and shot fire at them. Tara acted quickly and swung her hammer, hitting the fire back at it. She got a real a good look at the strange robot, and she stopped short, her eyes widening.

"Oh my god. . ." she said, and she grew pale.

"Tara?" Jonathon walked over to her and put a concerned arm around her shoulders, maybe to help her.

"Y-you w-wanted to know what h-happened to my town," she answered, still staring and moving away from him. "That thing."

It was about to shoot more fire when she threw the hammer at it, breaking it in two. The hammer flew back to her. Jonathon could hear two voices arguing with each other somewhere else in the palace. One voice he could recognize. That woman who tried to kill Tara.

"There is no time left," the woman said. "If you wish to keep your throne, you will tell me where those pathways are."

Jonathon began to see red, but it was his father who calmed him down.

"Watch yourself," he said. "Your eyes turned red, there."

"Something worse is going to happen."

* * *

"They just vanished?" Lois asked the woman in disbelief.

"Isn't that what I just said?" The redhead replied.

"With all that's happening. . ." Lois said to herself.

"We need them?" The other woman asked. Her red hair moved in the wind.

"Look around you," Lois said, feeling like she was several years younger and explaining the importance of the Blur to Cat Grant again. "The world's practically falling apart."

"I am." The woman was looking around them seeing the younger heroes helping in the chaos. "It looks to me like we're not as alone as you thought."

Something clicked within Lois when she watched the younger heroes rescue different civilians. She grabbed her phone and began to desperately call her son, and he was not answering.

"No," she said, trying again. "No, no. Not him."

She had one message, she noticed. Jonathon was explaining the plan to essentially go off-world and stop the chaos at its source.

"There is hope that everything will turn out," the woman told Lois. "There is always hope."

* * *

Gaia was unseen in the Watchtower, and she was looking at the Helmet. The woman working on trying to find her heroes was only the temporary host. It was something that they all understood.

At that moment it was whispering, calling for its new host, the worthy one. She picked up the Helmet, and she instinctively felt for the host.

He was somehow related to the previous host, and he was sleeping in the little warmth he could find while on the streets. Still unseen, Gaia placed the Helmet next to him.

"Keep the Order," she whispered to him as he wore the Helmet, becoming Dr. Fate.

* * *

"Did you hear what this thing could be?" Tara asked him, and he shrugged. Even his father was unable to answer her question.

"It will end it all?" His father asked after a while.

"Where?" Tara asked, ready to stop it.

"I don't think. . ." Jonathon was trying to say, but she silenced him.

"Family matter." She noticed where he looked for a fraction of a second.

For some reason she knew enough to raise her hammer to the sky and call the lightning to her. Armor appeared as the bolt of lightning hit the hammer. The people of Asgard watched and for a brief moment, they allowed themselves to cheer. A thunderer was fighting for them again.

* * *

In his prison cell, a man watched the lightning streak across the sky, and he smiled to himself. She was doing her father proud.

The walk broke, and faint sunlight filtered its way inside. There Touron stood, resting her hammer on her shoulder and handing his to her father.

"I really have no idea what's happening," she told him. "But, someone's trying to get Loki to some kind of passage to end it all."

"Amora," he said through clenched teeth.

"What are we waiting for?"

* * *

"Your brother is free," Amora circled around Loki. "And, he'll be here any moment to take back your throne." Her tone became milder. "He can prevent this, you know, and you could still have it all."

"I know," Loki said, smirking. His tone becoming harsher as he began to smirk. "Maintaining and controlling my armies have weakened you, have they not?"

"What?" The Echantress shrieked. "What have you done?"

"Giving him a way to get out of his prison," Loki answered. "The only way for him to get free of his chains."

The Enchantress grew pale, and she could barely stay on her feet. She still tried to keep her pride intact.

"Since we work for the same master," she almost purred. "He will know that I have always worked to free him. Not to satisfy some petty vendetta."

"I was to be king," Loki told her.

"And, I am sure Malekith would understand that."

The Mighty Thor and his daughter Touron of Both the Mortal and the Immortal and the one who tasted death. The four fought each other, but Loki smirked and vanished.

Amora began to laugh. "You have failed, Thor. You failed your father and your mortal woman. Everything will die."

* * *

Jonathon found a strange hallway when he ran passed it. Inscribed in the wall were different symbols that looked very much like the symbol his father wore. He ran his hand over them.

"Move away from there, mortal," A voice yelled from behind him.

Jonathon turned around to see a man in green robes and long black hair. A man he remembered seeing before. . .from before. He held a spear, pointing it at his chest. Jonathon used his heat vision, making the other man drop his spear, and for some reason, Jonathon knew enough to knock the old doorway down, closing off that particular passage forever.

* * *

An old man watched as the young heroes struggled to stop the invading armies. Each one showed impressive skill, but they only could do so much.

Golden light would shine around them, and Dr. Fate led the older heroes back to Midgard before closing off the gates. The different realms were not bleeding into each other anymore.

"Your work, I believe?" He asked the woman in the shadows.

"I prefer subtlety," she answered.

"My work is far reaching."

He summoned up the last of his power and vanished from the world he had watched over for so long, and he was in his palace once more. There Loki and the Enchantress were waiting for his judgement which he gave out justly, previous feelings being ignored.

Because of Touron's actions, that day and off in the past, Malekith could not escape his prison. Despite her origin, Odin hugged the girl.


	15. Thunderstorm 15

A/N: Please read and review! Look for the sequel Prime.

* * *

The weeks that followed her strange journeys found Tara sitting in her usual spot, though she was not reading but enjoying the summer sun, working on her tan. She was half asleep when she heard Jonathon calling her name.

She opened her eyes and sat up. Tara smiled down at him.

"Hey there, stranger," she told him, climbing down from her spot on the building.

She wore short shorts and her swimsuit top, and her hair was pulled up in braids. Jonathon's eyes widened when he saw her.

He coughed to regain his composure. "I've been busy."

Tara smiled at him. "So, I've heard. What changed your mind?"

"Honestly?" Jonathon said. "You."

* * *

It was their first real date, and somehow his palms were sweating as he made his way to her front door. Darcy was the one who answered the door, giving him a sly smile.

"You're on time," she commented as he entered the house.

The fact that he could hear her mother talking to her father made his stomach drop. He may have been a great protector of the innocent, but he was intimidating to be around even for someone with Kryptonian DNA.

Thor noticed him and gave him a warm smile. "What brings you here?"

"Him and Tara have a date," Darcy practically sang, and by the way she sat, she seemed to be watching what would unfold.

Like any other father meeting his daughter's boyfriend, he narrowed his eyes, trying to make himself as threatening looking as possible.

Tara came into the living room, dressed nice and her hair pulled into curls. She never looked more beautiful. She walked over to Jonathon giving him a sweet smile, and he gave one back to her.

"I think you both know the drill," her mother said.

"Don't let her drive," Darcy said, earning an annoyed huff from Tara.

Jonathon and Tara went on their date. Her father watched them, a more of a questioning look on his face. They were in the car when he finally allowed himself to breathe.

"Your father is intimidating," he told her earning an almost beautiful laugh from her. "He was worshipped as a god."

"Technically," Tara said, knowing his father's story. "So was yours."

* * *

Worlds away, a young man was in a prison that was designed to keep him locked away probably forever. When he thought of that, he almost cracked a smile. He got out of much worse. He began to muster all his strength and started to punch his way through the prison walls. Cracks began to form with each hit.

* * *

People did not know what to think when they saw Tara fight for the first time. Seeing her proved that yet another pagan pantheon was true. Christians were upset when they saw her. Atheists tried to make sense of her existence scientifically. Anyone else did their best to either ignore or accept her.

Jonathon as Superboy was easier to accept once people got over their shock of Superman even having children. It might have had something to do with the symbol he wore on his chest. It went that he would always protect the people, and there was even a line he would never cross, no matter the power he had.

They would have stepped the world underneath their feet, but they refused to even fall under that temptation. They, along with the other young heroes, helped and saved them.

A stranger who worked to cover his face watched and heard the news of Superboy with anger. There should only be one Superboy, and the boy calling himself that was not the right one. It was almost like several years ago when he last walked that world.

His rage began to boil over.

* * *

Tara and Jonathon were sitting on top of her mother's RV, watching the stars. She was resting her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her waist.

It was a busy several weeks for the both of them, and they tried to spend as much time they could with each other.

That night she was telling him what her mother told her about the stars, and he listened to the excitement in her voice. Even then he could tell that she was really interested in her mother's work.

"Your father is still intimidating," Jonathon told her, the all-out fight her father was involved in New York City. It was pretty clear that he did not use only brute strength in his battle but an almost war strategy.

She still laughed. "He likes you, though."

That was true. He guessed that it had to do with him staying with her during that vigil when she died. If he had to guess, he would say that action spoke louder than words. Jonathon would never understand Asgardian traditions.

Tara was looking up at him, smiling, and his mind went blank. She was always able to do that, and by that point, every little thing she did made him feel that way.

Maybe that was what caused him to say:

"I love you."

Tara was speechless, and her eyes were wide. Then she gave him a shy smile and a little kiss.

"That's good," she said. "Because I love you too."

* * *

"What's this about Hal?" Clark asked the man known as Green Lantern.

"You remember that prison we designed to keep a certain someone locked away?" Clark nodded. "He's out."

There was really only one thing he could think about when Hal said that. Jonathon was currently going by Superboy, and the prisoner believed he was the only real Superboy.

"Jonathon's in danger."


	16. Prime

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"Jonathon's in danger."

Clark had Chloe and many of the League members off looking for the missing prisoner. These three words were a mantra in his head as he helped.

"Diana," he asked. "Keep an eye on Conner."

The prisoner's previous visit was still fresh in their minds, and the clone that Clark referred to as a brother barely got away with his life, all because he went by Superboy. It had been awhile since he went by that name, but now Jonathon was being called it. Who knew what the former prisoner would do to him and the people who tried to protect him.

"Are you going to tell Lois?" It was Bruce who would figure out that he had yet to tell his wife.

"I was going to."

The worst part was no one could find Jonathon.

* * *

Tara and Jonathon were on the RV, sitting close to each other. Their previous declarations still hanging in the air.

He started to run a hand through her long dark blonde hair, staring into her dark eyes. More like he was lost in them. His hand moved to tilt her head up and gave her a deep kiss.

"That is a good thing," he said when he pulled away.

Jonathon pulled her onto his lap and started kissing her again. That quick kiss before going off to Asgard was fast, but it was always on their minds from that moment on. She felt at that moment that she needed a reassurance when she went to fight for her father. Jonathon always seemed so brave and strong, or maybe she felt like she was not coming back. It happened to her parents, leaving her mother an almost empty shell of a woman during her childhood. Maybe that was why she chose to live in the moment.

Jonathon's head snapped around, protecting her from their attacker. Tara tried to push him aside, not happy that he did not think she could protect herself. Floating near the RV was a strangely younger version of his father, his eyes were glowing red, and there was an anger and madness that shone in them. Jonathon began to swear when he got a good look at their attacker.

"Imposter," the stranger practically spat at him. 'I've come to take what's mine."

Tara began to concentrate and called her hammer to her.

"Stand aside," she said, using the same tone of voice her father had. "And maybe you won't feel the wrath of Thunderstorm."

* * *

"Superboy-Prime?!" Lois practically screeched. "Superboy-Prime!"

Clark tried to calm her down, but his wife remembered his attack, not sure if he would finally harm Clark or even Jonathon.

"I thought his prison couldn't be broken!"

"So did I."

It was the fact that no one could get a hold of Jonathon. No one was even sure if Superboy-Prime had already found him or not.

"I just hope that he won't find him," Lois said.

The sound they have been waiting for broke the tense silence. Her cell phone played Jonathon's ringtone.

"Mom?" He asked, it was on speakerphone, so Clark silently agreed that it was Jonathon speaking. "How did you-know-who get free?" There was a large peal of thunder in the background.

"We're still figuring that out," Clark admitted.

"Time hasn't mellowed him out."

"Keep him down," Clark said, knowing where he was just by the sound of thunder. "We'll be there. "Go north."

* * *

Tara was hitting back the heat vision blasts at their attacker, always being calm, but the way she gripped her hammer, Jonathon could tell that she was unnerved. The death threats that Superboy-Prime shouted at him everytime he tried to attack had to be the main reason.

She muttered something under her breath and threw the hammer at the crazed attacker, knocking him to the ground. there was no way that he could even lift it off him.

"We need to go," Jonathon told her, gently grabbing her arm to run off.

Tara had her hammer, and he picked her up and ran up North.

"Where are we going?" She asked him.

"A little sanctuary that won't let him in," he answered. "At least for now."

* * *

They were in front of an almost towering crystal fortress as far north as anyone would ever go. She stared up at it, open mouthed. Asgard was beautiful, but it was so otherworldly, beautiful in its own way. The sun hit the crystal in a way that shot rainbow light all around them.

"Dad usually comes up here," Jonathon said. "A safe place."

He led her into the Fortress, smiling at her looking around them.

"What's going on?" Tara asked him.

"You familiar with the Multiple-Earth theory?"

"Familiar?" Tara said, giving a look. "Very. Mom and Erik debate about it a lot."

"He came from the world where he was the only hero," Jonathon explained. "That world died when he came here, and he snapped."

Tara could hear the sympathy in his voice. He felt terrible for the kid who lost everything, not anger that he was trying to kill him. That was why she loved him.

"Imposter?" Tara finally asked him.

"The last time," Jonathon said. "He tried to kill the first Superboy for stealing his name."

She held his hand. "He'll have to go through me."

* * *

Clark found the unconscious Superboy-Prime. Though the sun shone brightly outside that New Mexico town, his injuries were not healing. He may have been from a different Earth, but he still got his power from the sun. They could clearly see runes across his forehead.

"Her hammer made of magic?" Bruce asked him.

"I don't know," he admitted. "It flies to her hande, and its connected to the lightning."

"That might explain it."

It was not the first time they wondered about the young woman's choice of weapon.

Clark and Diana could barely lift it, and many others could not even lift it off the ground while she and her father could easily carry it like it was nothing.

Superboy-Prime began to slowly wake up. Rage blinding him.

* * *

Tara was sleeping after their night together, curled into a ball. She promised to always fight by his side when his brother's other world self was ready to attack him. He tried to talk her out of it, but as always, she refused to back down. At least he was used to it. His mother always did the same thing, always to the point of harming herself, but no matter what happened, she would keep diving into danger.

Jonathon kissed her forehead, and she smiled in her sleep before she opened her eyes. she saw two ravens fly into the Fortress. They landed on each side of her, trying to get her attention. Jonathon looked around them to figure out how they ever got through the crystal walls. He noticed that the two raves looked familiar, but there was no way they looked normal. They were bigger, and their eyes looked like they saw many, many years pass without end, and they held a deep wisdom.

Tara touched one of the birds, and she had a faraway look to her eyes before looking serious. She scrambled to her feet to grab her hammer.

"He's coming."

* * *

Bart ran to the distress call in New Mexico. There Clark and Bruce were trying to keep Superboy-Prime in control, but his rage only seemed to be fueling his powers. It was the main reason why he showed up.

"I hate speedsters!" He yelled, almost stuttering when he saw Bart.

Clark tried to restrain him, but Superboy-Prime tried to punch him and flew off. North.

How dare that imposter stay in the Fortress of Solitude? How dare he!

He took a steadying breath. He would deal with that, had to. His world was long gone. It was a world where he was the only hero, the only special one. He hated this new world. Hated it. He hated the imposter. Hated him.

The sky overhead him was stormy. Thunder and lightning all around him. More foolish people though they could protect that imposter and keep him from his right as Superboy. His eyes began to glow red. he will stop that. It looked like a job for Superboy.

* * *

Tara glared at their attacker, gripping her hammer. She seemed like she was waiting for him to even move.

"Where is he?" He demanded.

"Around," she answered.

"It was pretty stupid of you to come out here," he told her, smirking. "I could kill you."

Tara held her hammer over her head, and the lightning struck it. Her armor appeared, and she readied herself for a fight.

"You sure about that?" Tara asked, sickly sweet.

"You're a pretty great Superboy," he yelled a little louder so Jonathon could hear him. "Having your girlfriend fight for you!"

Tara hit the ground, somehow knowing that the ground would shake enough to knock him off his feet. He bellowed with rage and tackled her, keeping her away from her hammer.

"Not so special without your hammer," he sneered, eyes glowing red.

Tara started to laugh. "It's not me you have to worry about."

Two ravens flew at his face, scratching at his eyes. He struggled, but they were not ordinary birds. Superboy-Prime clapped his hands over his eyes, bellowing in rage.

"Get these things off me!"

Tara grabbed her hammer and made a hand signal, and the ravens flew to her shoulders.

"Poor you."

"I'm special!"

"Good for you," Tara said, taking one step closer to him.

He did not notice. "In my world I was the only one."

Tara was moving even closer. "That doesn't mean anything."

Superboy-Prime's eyes glowed red, and his eyes shot heat vision. He expected her to be in pain, but she was not even bothered by it.

"Come on," he said, but she was beginning to bother him.

* * *

Tara and Superboy-Prime were fighting, and he was stronger than she expected. Her nose was bleeding, and she could have sworn that there was a cut on her cheek. She was more in her element, though. The ice was too much like the battlegrounds where her father led armies into battle. It was in her blood, not so much his.

His eyes glowed red, and her other cheek felt warm. Tara let go of his arm, and she touched her cheek for a brief moment. Superboy-Prime tried to push past her, and she tried to tackle him.

"Not when I'm around," Tara muttered.

She raised her hand, and her hammer flew to her. Tara swung her hammer at him, and he doubled over in pain. More runes appeared across his face, and it was one of the few things in the world that could even affect him. A heavy and very rare metal mixed with Asgardian magic did have its perks.

Then, he started laughing, a chilling sound. "You couldn't keep him safe. Not from me."

Jonathon was in the Fortress, not handling her fight with Superboy-Prime well. He was extremely worried, and he ran into his blood enemy. Tara took the opportunity to trip up the evil Superboy.

"Jon," Tara told him, pulling him away from the alternate version of his father. "He'll kill you."

"And you don't think he'll do the same to you?"

"I have something else on my side."

Tara raised her hammer up into the air, and a bolt of lightning hit it causing it to glow blue. She aimed the hammer at him, and lightning shot at Superboy-Prime, knocking him to the ground. Tara walked over to him and placed the hammer on his chest.

He began to laugh even harder. "I can lift it. I'm strong. The sun's on my side."

"You're not ready," Tara whispered to him. Her voice quiet but full of power.

Superboy-Prime struggled to even lift it, and he began to mutter with rage.

* * *

Hal and John with a contingent of Green Lanterns appeared to take Superboy-Prime back to the prison he broke out of, and judging by how Clark was reacting he did not seem too happy about that idea.

"We made the walls stronger," Hal explained.

Tara spent those days working on something big with her mom and Erik Selvig. After the fight, she quietly spoke with their attacker, and for some reason, she seemed to feel bad for him. Tara told no one about it.

"This could help," Tara said when they finished it. "It will send him back home."

Clark took the device, and he started talking with his younger, alternate self. Whatever he told him, Tara and Jonathon could see the change that came over him. The rage was slowly replaced by hope.

"What did you make?" Jonathon asked her.

"Something that could take him home," Tara answered. "Despite all he's done and said, that's what he really wanted."

Jonathon gave her a look, should have been surprised, but it was one of the things he loved about her. She grew up with that, getting it from her mother. Jonathon pulled her into a kiss.

"Most people wouldn't have bothered," he told her when he pulled away.

"I'm not like most people."


	17. Funeral

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Tara and Jonathon were back on top of her home in New Mexico. They were not really talking, just sitting together and looking up at the stars. She was sitting as close as she could next to him and resting her head on his shoulder. Her hand was over his heart. His phone went off and he pulled away to answer.

"Mom?" He said. "Wait. . .slow down. . ." His expression changed to sorrow. "What. . .what happened?"

Jonathon listened a little more, and he turned off his phone with shaking hands.

"Jon?" Tara asked him. "What was it?"

He put his face in his hands and rocked back and forth. "I should have been there. I. . .I should've. . ."

"Jon, what is it?"

"It's my dad," he finally said, eyes watery. "He's. . .he's. . .gone. . ."

* * *

Jonathon was watching the videos of his father's battle with the creature called Doomsday. Each time he saw it, he became worse until he just broke down and starting crying. Tara pulled him into a hug, soothing him.

"Why. . .why didn't he call me to help him?" Jonathon kept asking her.

"He didn't want you to get seriously hurt," Tara would always say. "He protected you."

"And who had his back?" Jonathon demanded.

Tara turned off the video and knelt in front of him, holding his face in front of hers.

"Your mother needs you right now, Jon," she said. "You've got to be her rock on this."

He tried to move away from her, but he stopped. Jonathon held one of her hands as he started to think.

"She was right there,"Jonathon said. "I'll talk to her. . .right now."

He went to talk with his mother, a woman who was not supposed to openly mourn Superman. She needed Jonathon. That much was true. It was the same with her and her mother. She always told Tara that she made her far happier than if she did not have Tara.

A great light went out in the world, and what were they going to do?

* * *

All around the world the death of Superman was felt. He was an inspiration to them all. Both civilians and heroes alike. The man who was able to push a planet away with his bare hands died in an all out battle with an otherworldly creature. No one could even believe it. No one even wanted to believe it.

Hope began to die.

There were heroes began to debate whether they should even stay being heroes. It was hopeless, they would say. He did more than stop crimes. He was a constant deterrent to that hung over the criminals' heads. A man would be hesitant about doing anything too drastic if an invulnerable, flying man would appear. Then there were heroes who did not even flinch from fighting in his memory. It was what he would have wanted, they said.

* * *

His funeral was large. All the superheroes he knew were there it seemed, and they were all in costume.

Tara sat next to Jonathon throughout the whole service. She held his hand which he squeezed whenever a new person spoke about his father. Each save, each heroic act.

Each hero left a single rose on his casket, saying their final goodbyes to the man they all looked up to, and each one wore black armbands with his symbol in red on them on their right arms.

"Why is he here?" Jonathon demanded when he saw Lex Luthor pay his respects.

"He has to pretend to be a decent guy," Tara suggested.

"I guess," he said as his mother made her way to Luthor, and she was practically seething.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here," she yelled. "You've wanted him dead for years."

He did not say anything in his defense. Luthor only took her anger like he felt he deserved it.

"We need to go," Jonathon said after the service. "I can't. . .can't stand this. We need to go. Now."

* * *

Jonathon and Tara were in his apartment. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at the floor in front of him. Tara sat next to him, trying to get him to talk.

"I should've been there," he said again.

"He protected you."

He snorted. "He didn't need to do it on his own."

Jonathon looked over at her whatever he was going to say next died on his lips. He brushed her hair aside, and he kissed her. She opened her mouth to him, deepening the kiss, and he laid her back on the bed.

* * *

Tara was looking out the window. Different memorials could be seen across the city, but there was one person out there. . .flying over the city like he was watching over it.

"Jon?" She called.

He walked over to the window, and the guilt was slowly going away.

* * *

His return was received all around the world, and it almost brought to mind the story of King Arthur, returning when the world needed him the most, and she did. The night he returned, one of his more notorious enemies was out "playing" when he heard that he was gone for good. The Toyman.

He had a group of people hostage, hanging them over the city, and the police were afraid to even move or he would drop them from that great height. He started to act like he won it all until the ever familiar red cape was seen. The crowd gave a small cheer when they realized who he was. That cheer turned into screams of horror when Superman dropped the Toyman from that incredible height to the ground, killing him instantly.

It could not be him, they said. They knew.

That still did not explain the empty tomb.


	18. Imposter

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

It was all over. Everyone could not stop talking about what he did to the Toyman; it was not him, could not be him. Killing. No matter what, Superman, their Superman, never once took a life. His tomb was empty, though. No trace of him anywhere, so it had to be him. Right?

Their worst fears were confirmed. You know the ones that were in the back of your mind about that man who had the strength to push away a planet with his bare hands. There was always a chance that he could turn on them, and it had finally happened. Lex Luthor spent years telling them all, warning them, and he was finally right.

The people who knew him best were looking for different explanations. A clone. A crazy alternate self. Those had happened before. Did Jane Foster succeed in sending him back to his own reality. What was happening? It was not him, could never be him. Ever.

* * *

Jonathon was pacing and muttering to himself. Tara sat on his bed, holding her knees to her chest as she watched him. Worry creased her brow.

"It wasn't him," he told her. "It was someone else."

"Dying changes a person," Tara said, vaguely remembering what it did to herself.

He stopped pacing and looked at her. He grimaced as thoughts of those horrible hours came at him, and he tried to stop thinking about them. It was why she barely spoke about them. It was pretty horrible to everyone involved.

Jonathon shook his head. "This has Luthor all over it."

Tara had to disagree. "He seems just as surprised as everyone else. Wouldn't he be all smug about this?"

"Seemed," Jonathon snorted. "But you couldn't be too far off."

* * *

Far up North, a weak heartbeat was slowly getting stronger. Its owner began to breathe more regularly. He had only two thoughts. Lois. Jonathon. They pulled him through and out of the fog.

* * *

"What did your father tell you about Hank Henshaw?" Dick asked him.

Jonathon stopped what he was doing as he began to think about that name. The name meant nothing to him.

"What?"

Dick climbed through the window, and he explained of a horrible accident not too long after his father showed himself to the world. The man, Hank Henshaw, and his wife blamed his father for not doing everything he could to really save that man. Enter Lex Luthor, and he was given a new body and strength beyond his wildest dreams. Hank had a vendetta to match them, though. He worked to be a better Superman than his father, doing everything it would take to succeed.

"Somehow he made himself look like your father and used his death to work his plan," Dick finished. "You weren't wrong about it not being your father."

"What can we do?" Jonathon asked, feeling that he had to do something for his father.

"Distract him."

He turned to leave, and Jonathon rather confusedly tried to stop him, but the vigilante shrugged him away.

"How?"

"You're smart. You figure it out."

He was gone, and Tara walked into his room, turning off her cell phone. She touched his shoulder.

"That was my mom. She said that he's gone," she told him, and her grip tightened as she looked more concerned. "Are you okay?"

"How do you distract a fake Superman?"

She gave him a half smile, and her eyes lit up. "A little lightning and some help would do just nice."

He had to laugh a little, and he kissed her. "I guess you're right about that."

"You guess?"

* * *

A young woman with messy hair and hipster clothing limped through the streets of Metropolis, leaning heavily on her cane for support, but it was pretty clear that she did not care at all about that. People around her began to freak out which meant only one thing. Superman was near them, and by the way they reacted, they were clearly afraid of him.

People pushed past her, and she was knocked to the ground, but people still trampled her. "Superman" shoved them aside, no regard that he should have had, and he helped her to her feet. The young woman coughed a little loudly as she choked out her thanks. He let go of her arm, and she limped away, rather quickly and not even looking back at him.

He was too preoccupied at how the people were reacting to even seeing him to even notice that the young woman stopped limping and tapped the ground with her cane. He should have noticed that her cane lit up just a little before turning into a hammer.

"Hank?" A voice broke through his thoughts. It belonged to a young man wearing the red and blue similar to his.

"That's not my name," he said, but he looked around them in worry.

Everything he had planned for could end in that moment, and that. . .that boy could ruin everything. He could, and would, do a better job than that weak boy scout. Already the streets were safer with him around than they ever had been before. No one would be on the streets if he was not around. That boy. . .that boy. . .!

Before he could even act, a heavy object hit him the back, knocking him forward. The young woman practically strolled, showing that she did not even need the cane, and picked up the large hammer.

"There's one way to show the world your true face," she said in a powerful voice that all could hear. "That you're a big fat liar."

The young woman rested a hand on his shoulder, keeping him from struggling to his feet, and she raised her other arm into the air as her hammer caught a bolt of lightning. They both glowed from the lightning. Hank Henshaw, "Superman," began to yell in pain while she only laughed. The synthetic skin that Lex Luthor designed began to tear away, revealing his robotic arm and face.

"NO!" Hank yelled, throwing her aside.

She rolled on her side, twisting her arm enough to make her yell in pain. The boy tackled him from the side to keep him from hurting her.

"Don't you dare!" The boy yelled, trying to hold him back, but even then, he was clearly struggling to really keep him from moving to her.

"I have to stop her," Hank said, pushing the boy aside. "She's too dangerous to be around."

That was the moment when the real Superman returned from the arms of Death. It was the stuff that legends should have been made of. Lightning flashed across the sky in the right way when he appeared, and the people hiding in the more stable buildings watched his landing in awe and wonder. The imposter was dealt with, but it would take a lot to take away the horror and mistrust that he caused in the name of their greatest hero. People still had the faith, though. The faith that he would take a life. Maybe that was enough.

* * *

Tara was sitting on the floor, flipping through a book, but she was not really reading. She was letting Jonathon and his mother have their moment with his father. She began to nod off a little, and who knows how much time had passed before she felt Jonathon's gently running over her back, and she rolled over, giving him a small smile.

"Hey, you," she said, opening her eyes a little.

"Hey," he said, laying next to her.

Jonathon began to play with her hair, and she rolled closer to him, laying her head against his chest, closing her eyes and letting his gentle hands running through her hair. He really seemed to be a whole lot better, but he seemed a little preoccupied with something.

"What are you thinking about?" Tara asked, opening up her eyes to look up at him.

"Just thinking," he said. "Just thinking."

Tara sat up a little to look at him closely, and she quirked an eyebrow at him. She shook her head and laid it back on his chest, not sure what that even meant. Tara did not want to lose him.


	19. Celebration

A.N: Please read and review!

* * *

Jonathon had been avoiding her since his father returned from the dead. Tara gave him his space, at first, because he needed to spend time with the family he thought he had lost. When he returned though, he actively worked to avoid her, and Tara was at a loss on what to do. She loved him, and it hurt to think that he wanted to be out of her life forever.

After three weeks of that, Tara was back at home and helping her mother with her work. She refused to talk about what happened between her and Jonathon. It still hurt. Still fresh. Her mother would watch her with concern as they worked, remembering how they acted together, but she said nothing. Her worried frown was enough.

One night, she woke to see Jonathon outside their RV wanting to talk to her.

"When did you get here?" He asked. His expression was blank, and he did not reach out to her.

"A while ago," Tara said, crossing her arms. How could he not know when she was not with him? Was it that bad?

Jonathon gave her some of the stuff she left at his apartment. "You left this."

Tara numbly watched him go and kicked the counter in anger before she began to cry. That had to be the moment when her eyes turned into the ones she remembered her mother wore when she was growing up. It was then when Tara began to understand the pain her mother had.

* * *

"Okay," Dick said, startling him from his thoughts. Like his mentor, Dick could still move quietly enough to startle a Kryptonian. "What happened between you two?"

"Nothing," Jonathon said, his face becoming blank. He began to think of the plan he came up with.

"You guys were practically inseparable," Dick countered. "Now, she's with her mother, and you're here. That's not nothing, so what happened?"

"Nothing."

Dick narrowed his eyes, trying to figure him out, and Jonathon said nothing, only waited. The vigilante shook his head.

"You're ruining a good thing," he said.

Jonathon still said nothing, and he waited until Dick was gone before he pulled out the small object he had been jealously guarding for the past several weeks as he gathered his courage. He knew it was a pretty good thing. Tara stayed by him when he thought he lost his father, and she was. . .god, she was so. . .

He was trying to gather his strength and courage to talk to her again. When he last saw her, he lost it, and she looked really hurt. It was in her eyes. . .he knew she would not want to talk to him after that, but he could not imagine his life without her.

* * *

Tara was sitting on the roof of her mother's building, watching the people below. It was a pretty common sight, so they thought nothing of it. That day, her father came back to Earth, and she and Darcy gave them their privacy. That was how she saw Jonathon waiting for her.

Jonathon was standing in the same spot as when they first met, and he looked up at her and actually smiled up at her. She glared down at him.

"What else did I leave?" Tara snipped at him.

He seemed to have been taken aback by her reaction, and what did he expect? Jonathon all but pushed her away.

"Nothing," he said, regaining his composure. "I just. . .wanted to talk to you. . ."

Tara climbed down and waited for his explanation, really his excuse. He looked around them nervously and pulled out a small black box and placed it in her hands.

"Open it." It held a ring, and she looked at it and back at him in confusion. "That was why I was here earlier, but. . .I chickened out. . ."

"What makes you think I'd say yes now?"

"You want to hear me out?" Tara crossed her arms. "Since then, I realized that I did not want to lose you. I don't even want to think about not having you in my life."

The ring began to sparkle in the sunlight, and it probably was not as bright as her smile. Tara threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. He staggered a little at her sudden movement, but he braced himself enough to hold her tightly.

"I'm taking that as a yes?" He said with a small smile when he pulled away.

Her parents came out of the building at that moment, and they knew enough about what happened between the two of them, and they did not seem happy. Jonathon set her on the ground, and her mother immediately went over to him before her father could even stop her and slapped Jonathon.

She winced in pain, but it did not even faze her. "I'm sick of your mind games. You. . .you. . .hurt her, and now you are. . ."

Her mother noticed the ring on Tara's finger, and she grabbed her wrist for a closer look. She shook her head.

"This still doesn't mean anything," her mother said, dropping her hand and going back into the building.

Her father, though, watched the way both Tara and Jonathon looked at each other, and he remembered the hours Jonathon spent with her after she died. He seemed to be more accepting of the news.

"Jane is very protective of our daughter," he explained as Tara went after her mother. "She does not wish to see her in pain."

There was an underlying threat in his words. When he spoke of Jane it seemed that he was silently adding himself in as well, but Jonathon would never hurt Tara. Ever. He could not.

* * *

Jonathon told the news to his friends after one of their meetings, and they all congratulated him. Dick only smirked whenever the Kryptonian was not looking at him. He knew that there was no way that he would keep Tara out of his life from the moment he met her.


	20. Future

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Tara wore white, and she had a white-gold tiara on her head that attached to her veil. Her mother was behind her, working to keep herself from crying. She rested one of her hands on her mother's arm, and her mother pulled into a hug, crying about her daughter finally growing up. Her mother was, eventually, happy for her. Tara would be happy instead of being in the horrible limbo she had been in when Tara was growing up.

Her mother gave her an old cross necklace, the only reminder of a grandmother she never really knew and helped put it on.

"Your father will be here," her mother told her quietly.

"They actually found a tux that would fit him?" Darcy asked when she came back into the room. She hugged the young woman that she had helped raise. "You look like a princess."

Her father walked into the room, beaming and possibly a little tipsy from his encounter with his oldest of Asgardian friends. He hugged her and her mother, kissing her mother soundly and kissing her temple.

Tara walked down the aisle with her father, and her eyes locked with Jonathon's. She had to smile when she saw his eyes widened. Darcy and her mother really did a good job helping her get ready. Her father placed her hand in Jonathon's, and from then on, their future together began.

* * *

Jonathon found Tara on the floor looking through all of her notes. One of her hands was resting on her stomach, and she was smiling a little to herself. She looked up at him when she knew that he was there. She was going to tell him something, but she gagged a little and bolted for the bathroom where she began to throw up. He heard the toilet flush and the water running as she was drinking some water.

"Tara?" He asked, coming into the bathroom. He felt a lot worried. Technically, she was not supposed to get sick. "Are you okay?"

Tara rested one of her hands on her stomach again. "I'm more than okay."

"You just threw up." He was deadly calm.

"I'm supposed to in my condition," Tara said.

"Your condition?"

Tara slammed her cup down and looked at him, probably deciding if she should laugh or yell at him. She only shook her head.

"I'm pregnant."

He pulled her to him and held her tight, whispering to her. He could not have been happier than he was at that moment. They were both laughing. Their future was bright indeed.

* * *

Tara sat bolt upright in the bed, jerking Jonathon awake. His eyes were half open as he looked up at her. She touched his shoulder with a shaking hand.

"Jon," she whispered.

"Hm?" He said.

"We need to go. Now."

"Now?"

Tara gasped, and her grip tightened around his arm making him wince.

"Right," he said. "Now."

"Make it quick," she gasped.

Jonathon helped her to her feet, and he grabbed what they needed and left for the hospital.

"Remind me again why I don't what the drugs for the pain?" She gasped.

"It wouldn't have worked for you," he told her, hitting the gas even harder.

"Oh. . .that. . ."

Later, he came into the crowded waiting room, almost like the way his father did for him all those years ago, to show his newborn son. His mother practically shoved everyone out of her way, and she held her first grandchild in her arms.

"What's his name?" His father asked.

"Erik."

Jonathon went to get his son back, but his mother moved away from him.

"I'm not done with him yet," she said, holding the baby even tighter to her. "You'll have all the time you want later."

Even his father could not keep up with Lois.

* * *

When everything quieted down, and the boy little boy was left in the nursery to sleep. A woman with fiery red hair moved through the world unseen by everyone. The boy's eyes opened when her hand rested on his forehead, and he looked up at her. When an older man stepped out of the rainbow light, she was ready to begin.

"The same stipulations?" She asked.

"It worked the last time," he said.

The boy had to wait, like his mother before him and prove his worth for his Asgardian heritage. Erik had to earn his right to the Asgardian throne.

Erik cooed when the woman picked him up. His bright blue eyes looked into hers. To the unobservant, he looked like a normal boy, nothing about him indicated his two great bloodlines.

"Your future is great indeed."

* * *

Tara held her little boy closer to her, and she smiled at Jonathon. He kissed her forehead.

"What?" He asked her.

"I'm kinda happy I climbed down that roof to talk to you," she admitted, watching their son yawn and open his eyes.

He chuckled. "I'm glad that I managed to talk you into climbing down."

* * *

"Garth!" Rokk's voice echoed through their headquarters.

The red headed boy who could control lightning was staring at some of the old records.

"I thought you would have those memorized by now," Rokk commented when he realized what Garth was reading.

It was about Kal's family. There was a theory floating around that he would get the powers of anyone who comes into the family, but those were only rumors.

"I just thought she was cool," he admitted.

Rokk laughed. "You're only saying that because you thought you saw her last week."

A strange robot appeared, and the Legion could barely do anything that would stop its assault. A woman in bright armor and a helmet landed in front of it, and she spun a hammer that created a tornado that lifted both her and the robot into the air before she called lightning to destroy it.

Before she vanished inside rainbow light, a man with dark hair in red and blue with the familiar symbol landed onto the ground next to her. They looked around them as Kal silently spoke with them.

"The lightning had to do with it," Garth admitted.

"The trust always comes out."

Even though they knew everything about one of the legendary heroes and his family, they could only guess about how Jonathon Kent met his wife.

The trust could be a little hard to believe.


End file.
